Gass Z 



— 



Book. > /V P I / 




NARRATIVE OF EVENTS 

IN THE 

SOUTH OF FRANCE, 

AND OF 

THE ATTACK ON NEW ORLEANS, 
In 1814 and 1815. 



BY 

CAPTAIN JOHN HENRY "COOKE, 

Late of the 43d Regiment of Light Infantry. 



| 

I 

LONDON : 
T. & W. BOONE, 29, NEW BOND-STREET. 

1835. 



. K c C *f 



LONDON: 

PRINTED BY W. MARC II ANT, I NGRAM-COURT. 



PREFACE 



As the first chapter of this book begins without the 
walls of Toulouse, the reader may ruminate how I 
arrived at that spot at so happy an epoch ; without 
taking a voluminous retrospect, I shall merely state that 
I served with the Walcheren expedition in 1809 ; 
in Portugal in 1811 ; at the siege and storming of 
Ciudad Rodrigo ; the siege and storming of Badajos ; 
was likewise engaged at the battle of Salamanca and the 
military displays and manoeuvres connected therewith, 
including the retreat from Alcala and Madrid to Sala- 
manca, where we formed a junction with the left wing 
of the army retiring from the old castle of Burgos, when 



iv PREFACE. I 

I 

the whole army fell back upon the frontiers of Spain 
and into Portugal. I was at the battle of Vittoria and 
some of the battles of the Pyrennees, and was an eye- 
witness of the second assault and taking of St. Se- 
bastian : w r as engaged at the subsequent attack on the 
heights of Vera the same day on which the left of the 
British army crossed the river Bidassoa, and penetrated 
into France ; was present at the battles of the Nivelle, 
the Nive, the affair at Tarbes, the battle of Toulouse, 
and various skirmishes : I also give this outline of 
my campaigns as a prelude to the following details of 
military events. 



ERRATA. 



Page 110, line 16, for « June, 1787," read " the 12th April, 1782." 
Page 296, lines 6 and 7, for "he tore down," read " he wished to 
tear down.'' 



A NARRATIVE, 



ETC. 



CHAPTER I. 

LANGUEDOC. 

April 12th, 1814. — Camp of the light division, 
British army, on the north-east bank of the canal du 
Midi, and one mile from the fair city of Toulouse, the 
spires and venerable turrets of which overhang the 
rapid waters of the river Garonne. The sun shone 
merrily, and early this day I threw my leg across the 
back of my right-trusty little Spanish jennet. My cloak 
was no longer rolled across the pummel of my saddle, 
the coiled rope or halter had disappeared from the head 
of my steed, and the blanket, which was usually folded 
under my saddle, was left behind with buoyant disdain, 
for I now wished to consider myself mounted only like 
an armed gentleman. My moustache bristling up with 
an extra twist from the sugar canister, off I started 
from humble camp, at a good round canter, for the 
little pont Jumeau, and was happy to find that my 
faithful animal was not lamed by the effects of an acci- 



2 



LANGUEDOC. 



dent which happened two nights before. To accelerate 
the passing of the Spanish infantry at the late battle 
of Toulouse, a frail bridge had been constructed across 
a broad ditch or rivulet. It consisted of a few limbs 
of trees, with boughs loosely thrown athwart them. 
I was dashing over this at full speed, in the darkness, 
but I soon found that my horse was sinking at every 
step, and I stuck spurs to its sides. The animal 
plunged violently with all fours to regain its legs, one 
of which had now penetrated through the apertures in 
the branches of this treacherous bridge. At length 
we luckily gained the opposite bank, but the animal 
was down upon its nose, and the sinews of my legs 
were much strained from the exertions made to keep 
anything like a seat on so boisterous an occasion. 
Making a final effort, however, man and horse were 
once more erect, but the animal trembled so violently 
that I was fain to dismount to coax it before I pro- 
ceeded on my way. 

Reaching the Paris road, I had a good opportunity 
of examining the little bridge, called the pont Jumeau, 
constructed with a single arch across the canal du Midi, 
precisely like those thrown over canals in England, or 
elsewhere, and which bridge had been unsuccessfully 
attacked by two regiments of general Sir T. Picton's 
division on the day of the battle. 

The broad road leading to the Jumeau bridge was a 
dead flat, and the earth entrenchment, thrown across 
it to defend the pass over the canal, looked at a short 
distance like a trifling embankment ; but upon coming 



LANGUEDOC. 



3 



close to it the dry ditch was found to be six feet deep, 
and as many wide ; on the opposite side, the earth- 
bank, behind which the French soldiers were posted, 
rose about five feet, so that the assailants had to climb 
eleven feet from the bottom of the ditch. 

The British troops, of the third division, who were 
charged with the assault of this work, had run along 
the flat road several hundred yards under a sharp 
cracking of small arms, but being without ladders they 
could not surmount this obstacle, and were glad to run 
back again, with some loss in killed and wounded ; 
they were thus baffled by one of the most insignificant 
looking banks that probably ever was seen. There can 
be little doubt that a few short ladders might have been 
found in some of the houses adjacent to the ground 
occupied by the third division. 

While this was taking place at the Pont Jumeau, 
the riflemen of the light division, who were stationed 
opposite a similar bridge, the Pont des Minimes, were 
ever and anon aiming a cool shot at their opponents, 
without, however, attempting to attack the position. 
Their orders were only to hold the enemy in check on 
that point. The possession of the bridge would have 
been of no utility, as beyond it was a space of flat 
exposed ground of more than a quarter of a mile in 
extent, immediately overlooked from the old walls and 
towers of Toulouse. 

The repulse of this part of the third division was la 
fortune de la guerre, and history, from the earliest 
days, tells of the hard knocks that the bravest soldiers 

b2 



4 



LANGUEDOC, 



have sustained against stone walls or entrenchments, 
in Spain as well as elsewhere. 

The general brilliancy of the victory of Toulouse 
dazzled the public sight, and somewhat screened this 
attack from so much notice as it might otherwise have 
received ; yet as it was the last effort made by the gal- 
lant third division during this eventful war, it may be 
called an unlucky occurrence. No division more felt 
it to be so than the light, which always watched the 
motions of the third with so much pleasure, and was 
ever the foremost to give a meed of praise to the 
" fighting division," whose well-timed assistance was 
often of so much benefit to it. The feeling was the 
stronger in consequence of these two divisions having 
composed one and the same after the battle of Tala- 
vera de la Reyna, in Spain. If any rivalry did exist, 
it was only which of them should be foremost to serve its 
king and country. But before I drop this little failure 
at the tete de pont, I will just hint, that had such an 
occurrence happened in the Western or New World, 
more would have been said about it, whether justly or 
unjustly. 

And now, first claiming the same privilege, of re- 
counting ailments or pleasures, which is allowed to 
other travellers, I will slowly jog along at a walk or a 
trot, as the case may be, making my observations on 
the joys or the sorrows of the people with whom I may 
chance to associate. But, before I proceed, let me be 
indulged in one remark as to the close of this great 
European war drama. Of the many officers and sol- 



L A NGUEDOC. 



diers who had figured in the Peninsular conflict, 
it fell to the lot of few to reach the walls of Tou- 
louse. The most of them were now away from the 
soul-inspiring accompaniments of martial appeals and 
aides-de-camp at full gallop. Then, again, other mi- 
litary men shouting and huzzaing — come on — go on my 
fine fellows — now here— now there — and oh, for God's 
sake keep together ! Then, again, the intonation of 
the cannon's roar, the volumes of smoke rolling past 
the silent columns of reserve of horse and foot, and 
the lighted matches of the cannoniers. — But truce, 
my pen. 

As we trotted, one after the other, under the gate- 
way into the city of Toulouse, nothing could exceed 
the joyful transports of its good people. The autho- 
rities greeted the Marquis of Wellington officially, and 
the canaille knocked the bust of Napoleon from the 
front of the capitol, and dashed it to fragments on the 
pavement ! We may derive an excellent moral lesson 
from the popular phrenzy which could thus treat the 
bust of a man who, only a brief space of time before, 
was the idol of these very people. Young as I w T as at 
the time, I could not help laughing in my sleeve at 
the inconsistency of this brute violence. Groups of 
ladies promenaded the streets, and crowds of grisettes, 
in their lace caps and holiday suits, rushed from place to 
place, crying, Vive notre bon Roi! — Vive Vellington! — 
Vive les Anglais! — Vive les Espagnols /—and Vive les 
Portugais ! and familiarly approached us to feel, with 
their ruddy hands, les habits rouge. 



6 



LANGUEDOC. 



In the height of this display of popular phrenzy I 
was not a little shocked to see moving through the 
crowd a car-load of their countrymen, hussars and 
chasseurs, with their heads and faces wrapped in the 
folds of blood-stained bandages, their arms in slings or 
splints, and their jackets nearly glued to their backs 
from sabre-cuts. The poor patient inanimate creatures 
looked as if life were on the ebb, and that they were 
quite unconscious of the fiddling and the noisy mirth 
in the streets, which resembled a sort of unmasked 
carnival. 

The following day I joined a long procession of 
British officers, on foot, to attend the funeral of Lieut.- 
Colonel Forbes, of the forty-fifth regiment, who was 
killed opposite the aforesaid little tete de pont. He 
was interred with military honours at Le JPape la 
Marque, a piece of flat ground half a mile north-north 
west of the city, and near the canal du Midi. In the 
evening the theatre was thrown open gratis to the 
British officers, and was filled to excess. It is mo- 
derately spacious, but indifferently painted. Between 
the first performance and the afterpiece an actor came 
forward to announce the abdication of Napoleon at 
Fontainebleau. This was the first intimation of that 
event given to the British army, and to convey an idea 
of our astonishment would be out of the question. 
Such is the want of communications in those countries, 
and so unlooked for was the event, that when it was 
first announced from the stage, I absolutely felt a sort 
of chill of surprise pass through my veins, and a sen- 



LANGUEDOC. 



7 



sation as if the hairs of my head were bristling up to 
keep my moustache company. 

At first a few stifled acclamations escaped the 
citizens in the pit; but to such a surprising piece of 
news we could hardly give credit, and we looked 
doubtingly at one another. A buzz ran through the 
theatre, and the actor being again called for he came 
forward, with a theatrical air, turning his eyes on every 
side for admiration, as though vanity prompted him to 
consider himself the dispenser of great events. While 
settling his cravat, he awaited with the utmost sang 
froid until the ebullition of the public applause had 
somewhat subsided. Then, with two measured steps, 
he placed himself close to the stage lamps, to enable 
the varied group of spectators to witness the extent of his 
loyalty, and the orchestra struck up Vive Henri Quatre. 

At the conclusion of the drama the whole town pre- 
sented a blaze of light ; the streets were thronged with 
people, all the cafes were thrown open, and the females 
who preside in them, and who may be said to sit in 
state, were seated behind semicircular counters, which 
were covered with artificial bouquets, glasses, sweet- 
meats, and refreshments. These females, who are 
usually selected for their beauty, wore caps of an 
extraordinary size, highly decorated, and tied under the 
point of the chin, which added much to the expres- 
sion of their countenance. Being so gaily bedizened 
they looked at a little distance not unlike wax-dolls, but 
presented a lively effect. Their glances are so adroitly 



8 



LANGUEDOC. 



managed that each swain, seated at a marble slab, who 
may be partaking of eau de vie from a small silver bowl 
or sipping cafe or orgeat, flatters himself that he is 
the object of her peculiar notice. A young man with 
a well-frizzed head, qui mange les bonbons, is generally 
seated or lolling near the fair one's elbow, and assists 
at an agreeable tete-a-tete, which is by no means a 
bad arrangement, as it prevents strangers from in- 
commoding her by a too lengthened strain of com- 
plimentary expressions. 

A truly laughable incident happened while I was 
lounging in this ancient city. A friend of mine who 
had received a classical education, and who afterwards 
could boast of speaking the French tongue pretty fluent- 
ly, was on all occasions quizzing me for my English- 
French pronunciation ; but at this time he was sorely 
puzzled to see written up in large characters at every 
few yards Ici on coupe le cheveux. " There," said he, 
" look! again it is written up Coupe le cheveux!" 
Having passed a considerable number of these notices he 
at last exclaimed, putting on a most wonderfully grave 
physiognomy, " if ever I knew so many horse-cutters 
in a town in my life!" Need I say, certainly not to old 
campaigners, as an explanation, that my companion, 
fresh from camp, with the snorting of Spanish stallions 
and the other unmusical accompaniments of the entire 
ass and the mule still ringing in his ears, mistook Coupe 
le cheveux, hair-cutter, which he translated as horse- 
cutter, as if it had been written up Ici on coupe les. 



LANG L 1 EDO C. 



y 



vhevaux, the a being the letter which completely 
changes the meaning. 

A detachment of highland soldiers and also the na- 
tional guard did duty at the hotel of the Marquis of 
Wellington. The latter were clothed in well made blue 
uniforms, with red epaulets, white cross-belts, a cocked 
hat, and a nodding feather; this tout-ensemble exhi- 
bited a handsome appearance, and they seemed highly 
pleased with their novel occupation. Three or four days 
after our entrance, the Marquis of Wellington gave a 
ball, to which several of us were invited. The mansion 
was handsomely hung with silken drapery, the salon 
was well lighted, and the floor highly polished, set- 
ting off to advantage the small satin slipper of the 
belles de Toulouse, who were elegantly attired in the 
newest Paris fashion. Their waists were ridiculously 
short, and they wore their hair without curls, drawn 
tight up and twisted round the top of the head, inter- 
spersed with a wreath of flowers. At the first glance 
this style of costume appeared preposterous, but it was 
a la mode, and who can refrain from admiring une 
dame charmante in all fashions ? Their manner of dancing 
was truly elegant, and I cannot call to mind, at any 
period of my life, a more highly finished quadrille 
party, for they glided with noiseless step to the exact 
measure of the silver strains of the music. 

During our stay at Toulouse we had a good opportu- 
nity of noticing the costume of its inhabitants, who are 
considered in this part of the country les vrais Francais. 

b 3 



10 



LANGUEBOO* 



The ladies wore large bonnets and ruffs, their dresses 
were well trimmed and highly decorated. Les bourgeois 
were habited in a very unbecoming fashion, a small round 
hat was perched, a c6te, on the top of the head ; the coats, 
principally of a light mixt colour, with large buttons, 
were high collared and long waisted, with short broad 
skirts, and fitted their slim bodies loosely ; the lower 
garments, or inexpressibles, were made tight as far 
down as the calf of the leg, and then so wide and long 
as almost to trail on the ground. 

His Britannic Majesty's foot guards, the King's 
German legion, Lord Aylmer ? s brigade, and the fifth 
division, had not, like ourselves, dived into the interior 
of France, but merely skirted the sea-coast, and the 
banks of the Nive and the Adour, for the blockade of 
the fortress of Bayonne. This position likewise pro* 
tected the rear of the British army, and secured a 
retreat should it become indispensable. For Welling- 
ton, like other generals, gave way to an approaching 
storm when necessity required it, to avert greater evils* 
and prudently floated with the military current, when 
it was no longer to be stemmed. More than once had 
the British retreated, in the south of Europe, and 
might be obliged to retreat again, for Mars is a fickle 
god, and has sometimes given the greatest heroes the 
slip at the moment when his desertion of them was 
least expected. 

It cannot therefore be wondered at, that we all felt 
considerable surprise when the news came to us that 



LANG UEDOC. 



n 



the garrison of Bayonne had made a sortie before day- 
light, on the morning of the 14th of April, and had 
wounded and taken prisoner the British commander 
General Sir John Hope ; and that more than 900 men 
on either side had fallen, without the least benefit to 
French or English. The sole result of this fight was 
a savage and vindictive carnage, for, after it both 
parties kept their positions, the blockaders being, as 
before, without the walls of the fortress, and the 
blockaded within them. 

While we were walking in a by-street near a large 
house, we observed a most fascinating young lady enter 
the porch, (whom I shall hereafter have occasion to 
mention,) who flew up the spacious stair-case, and 
presented herself at the window, her peculiar head- 
dress setting off her beautiful countenance to the most 
exquisite advantage. It consisted of a white satin hat, 
a la militaire, with a rim about two inches broad, and 
rolled up at the sides, something after the fashion of 
the rim of a round hat, but with a lofty crown, gar- 
nished at the top with an ample rosette a cote, and 
a nodding ostrich feather. The latter, gently agitated, 
gave grace to the costume of one of the prettiest fairies 
that ever flitted past my vision. This lovely being was 
often the theme of our subsequent conversation, and 
our after meeting with her, at a distant place, was quite 
a circumstance of romance. Looking at each other in 
wonderment, we were half inclined to doubt whether 
she had not descended from the ethereal regions in 



12 



LANGUEDOC. 



Cupid's car, to gladden our eyes with another sight of 
her animated countenance, and of her faultless propor- 
tions, robed in transparent and flowing drapery, and 
her feet and ancles, cast in beauty's mould, cased in 
tiny slippers, shaped to grace only the feet of her who 
wore them. 

The war was considered as concluded, but still the 
Duke of Dalmatia declined negociating, pleading his 
want of authority to do so, and it was a laughable cir- 
cumstance that he had dispersed printed hand-bills 
over the country, accusing the English of coming 
amongst them with the torch of anarchy to foment 
discord, when, in point of fact, the political state of 
the nation had already reached the acme of confusion, 
desertions having taken place from the French army 
to a great extent. In truth, it was almost impossible 
to believe, that the small force under the Duke of Dal- 
matia could be the residue of that mighty phalanx of 
troops that so short a time before traversed Spain with 
martial strides. 

The moveable columns of Suchet, Duke of Albufera, 
were talked of among the British troops, but the 
major part of his force was locked up in the Cata- 
Ionian posts and fortresses, and his disposable troops 
had dwindled into insignificance in point of numbers, 
so that it was all a farce to talk of their acting south 
of the Pyrenees, against the Anglo-Portuguese and 
Spanish armies, which so out-numbered them. Added 
to this, there had been a sort of military flirtation a 



LANGUEDOC. 



13 



month before, when King Ferdinand crossed the Py- 
renees into Catalonia, after his long and close capti- 
vity in France. It was the restoration of the monarch 
to the crown of his ancestors which brought about the 
flirtation in question, as part of a Spanish and French 
army were drawn out face to face, presenting arms 
one to the other. This sort of coquetting tended to 
neutralize the efforts of their allies and brethren south 
of the Pyrenees ; while the Dukes of Dalmatia and Al- 
bufera were constantly sending despatches one to the 
other on the means of making the last stand, to extri- 
cate themselves from the labyrinth of difficulties by which 
they w r ere compassed. 

For some days the Duke of Dalmatia continued to 
decline negotiating with Wellington. We were, there- 
fore, once again put in motion, and marched some 
leagues on the road to Ville Franche. We had, how- 
ever, hardly taken up our ground on the tented field, 
when a carriage was driven past at a swing trot, 
escorted on one side by an English heavy dragoon in 
red, and on the other by a French horse-chasseur, 
dressed in green. This equipage conveyed the Count 
de Gazan, for the purpose of treating with Wellington 
on the part of the dukes of Dalmatia and Albufera. 

The preliminaries of an armistice being in course of 
adjustment, we retraced our march towards Toulouse, 
and, as two hundred soldiers from England had joined 
our corps two or three days after the battle of Tou- 
louse, there was no lack of officers. A party of us, 



14 



JLANGUEDOC. 



therefore, threw off all restraint, scraped together our 
best uniforms, made for Toulouse at full gallop, dashed 
into the court-yard of the Hotel d 'Angleterre, and 
ordered dinner, which was to consist of every delicacy 
in season. Every face was decked in smiles while 
quaffing the choicest wines, and the delicious liqueur 
a la Dantzic* This jovial repast being finished, we 
repaired to the capitol, where a ball was to be given 
by the inhabitants of the town* Upwards of two thou- 
sand people attended upon this occasion, and the ball- 
room was so crowded that for some hours a quadrille 
could scarcely be formed, and the waltzers were obliged 
to content themselves by turning on their own circle. 
A clumsy militaire, who was a perfect novice in that 
art, must needs seize hold of a charming demoiselle 
round the waist to figure away in a pair of long and 
ragged-pronged screwed spurs. While he was making 
a rapid whirl with heels up in the air, one of his spurs 
got entangled in the folds of a young lady's rose- 
coloured satin slip, and rent it in twain — terrible 
catastrophe ! The fair one lifted up the tattered skirt, 
and at the doleful sight turned up her beautiful blue 
eyes, and fell fainting into her mamma's arms. She 
was the most lovely girl in the room, and it was utterly 
impossible to gaze on the anguish portrayed on her 
innocent countenance, as the burning tears rolled down 
her blooming cheeks, without deeply sympathizing in 
her misfortune, for she was forced to quit the brilliant 
salon, filled by youthful warriors, who were clad in the 



LANGUEDOC. 



15 



most splendid uniforms of all the colours of the rainbow, 
which were embroidered with a profusion of gold and 
silver lace — a costume ever in unison with the rich 
dresses, sparkling with costly ornaments, which bedeck 
the fair sex. 

At the expiration of two or three days the re- 
joicings at Toulouse began to subside ; we, therefore, 
ordered out our horses, and rode off on the Paris road, 
towards Montauban, in search of our regiment. The 
evening was freezingly cold for the season of the year, 
and, consequently, after a pretty long ride we found 
our appetites much increased. We therefore reined in 
and entered a small auherge; but, although this public- 
house was encircled by a plentiful country, nothing 
could be more miserable than its accommodation, and 
we were obliged to content ourselves with an omelette 
and un petit gout d 'eau-de-vie. Having fed our horses 
we again started, but, darkness coming on, we were 
for some hours benighted, and could obtain no tidings 
of our division ; at last, seeing a glimmering light 
through the casement of a cottage, we made towards 
it, and were directed by the amiable country folks to 
Montech, a few hundred yards to the right, on the road 
branching off to Montauban. On entering the small 
town the shops were all closed, the streets were quite 
empty, and hardly a light was to be seen at any of 
the windows, and myself and companion agreed that 
we had got into rather a gloomy place for our can- 
tonment. After traversing a street or two we came 



lb 



LA NGUEDOC. 



on a stray soldier, who conducted us to a large 
rusty looking brick-built mansion, which was chalked 
off for our billet de logement. As soon as the door was 
opened, our hopes revived at beholding a pretty demoi- 
selle, who was busily employed in hurrying and pushing 
forward a couple of Jilles de chambre with lights to con- 
duct us along a spacious passage, from whence we were 
ushered unto a comfortable room with a blazing wood 
fire. A supper table was already laid out, with an 
invitation to assist mamma and daughter in anato- 
mizing a roast capon, garnished with sausages, and 
with keen appetites we set to work, and could not 
refrain from an inward smile of satisfaction at our boa 
fortune, as we curled our moustaches, and quaffed off^ 
by half goblets, du bon vin de Bourgogne. 

Had we been mamma's own darlings, she could 
not have watched over our petit soupe with more solici- 
tude. Mademoiselle Clementine Adelaide asked us, w r ith 
the utmost naivete, whether it was really true that les 
dames Anglaises possessed feet aussi lorigues que sa bras® 
Although our present sentiments savoured very much of 
two deserters, yet we still had sufficient patriotism left 
to intimate that she had been misinformed as to the 
deficiency of charms in our fair countrywomen ; assur- 
ing her that English ladies were as fair as lilies, tris 
Men faites and of joli tournure. Now as Adelaide's 
complexion had a strong dash of the brunette, the 
colour instantly mantled her cheeks, her dark southern 
eyes emitted sparks of fire — and hanging down her 



LANGUEDOC. 



17 



head, she said, " then, Messieurs, I presume vous ad- 
mirez les blondes." We spent a delightful evening, and, 
as we were provided with fine sheets and good beds, 
the sun had risen some hours before we awoke from 
our tranquil repose. As there was no longer any hasty 
packing of portmanteaus, nothing could exceed our 
happiness on descending a flight of steps which com- 
municated with the garden, where we found Adelaide 
ready to receive us, with a blooming rose in each hand, 
which she presented with that gentle manner so peculiar 
to the French. The town, which looked so uninviting 
the night before, now assumed quite a different aspect. 
It is nearly encircled by a promenade, and its inha- 
bitants are almost entirely composed of those econo- 
mical and genteel families which inhabit the plains of 
Languedoc. The river Garonne runs two miles west of 
this place, and four miles to the eastward stands the 
large and populous town of Montauban, which is 
approached from Montech by an excellent road passing 
through a fruitful district. The country abounds with 
extensive plains of corn, vineyards, flower-gardens, 
and fruit-trees, which envelope the various mansions 
and cottages — all articles of provision, as well as 
wines, are abundant in the neighbourhood, and at a 
very low price. Wood is the only article consumed 
with a sparing hand ; small forests are reared in the 
vicinity for firewood, but the growth is unequal to the 
consumption; and although the Garonne is within so 
short a distance of the place, yet the stream flows 



18 



LANGUEDOC. 



downwards with such rapidity that it can only be 
used with advantage for exportation. # 

The inhabitants of Montech are principally royalists ; 
therefore, during our stay at this place, our time was 
exclusively devoted to pleasure. During the latter end 
of April and the beginning of May nothing can be 
more charming than the face of the country ; the fruit- 
trees are covered with variegated blossoms, and the 
gardens are decked with the gayest flowers ; and could 
I do full justice to the scene, and the whirl of festivi- 
ties which followed at the close of a sanguinary war, 
the narrative would be treated as savouring more of a 
romance than a story of reality. Every door was 
thrown open ; wives and daughters were entrusted to 
our care ; every night there was a ball, and every day 
a pique nique, or a fete champetre. Madame la 
Marechale de Perignon was the principal lady in the 
place, and the family consisted of the youthful Comtesse 
de Lanusse and Mademoiselle Caroline Perignon, a 
charming young lady about fifteen years of age, so 
ladylike, and free from affectation. 

This family we escorted every where, and when the 
carriage of the Perignons chanced to be filled with 
ladies, another vehicle was invariably provided for us, 
so that we might join the cavalcade; and to give a 
faint idea of the manner we passed six weeks in the 
sunny plains of Languedoc, I must draw an outline of 

* Since steam-vessels have plied on this river, the interior of both 
Languedoc and Gascony must have been incalculably benefited. 



LANGUEDOC. 



19 



some of the parties. The hall-door of Madame la 
Marechale was never closed, and should there be a 
lack of amusement elsewhere, the soiree was always 
spent there, with either music, dancing, or games of 
forfeits. 

At this period the Duke d AngouUme was to pass 
through Montauban on his way from Toulouse towards 
Paris ; preparations were accordingly made by the gar- 
rison to receive him, festoons of evergreens interspersed 
with flowers were hanging across the streets, and the 
town was illuminated and thronged with people. We 
formed part of the Perignons' escort in a cabriolet, and 
the blaze of light produced such a vivid effect that we 
could no longer manage the unruly horse ; it began to 
back, rear up, kick, and plunge in such a manner as 
to threaten total destruction to us and the clumsy 
vehicle ; first we got a jolt on one side, then a shrill 
scream from the women and children assailed us on the 
other ; every one cried out in alarm, but no one prof- 
fered any assistance, until at length a French grenadier, 
who was on duty, deliberately walked up, and led his 
helpless captives through the bright flaring torches, 
which reflected on our scarlet uniforms and confused 
countenances. At every clank of the horse's hoofs on 
the pavement, men, women, and children, excited by 
curiosity, demanded, " Who are they?" — " Ok rien," 
replied the vieux moustache, "que les Anglais, qui allez au 
bal avec notre bon Prince" On alighting we found the 
ante- chamber of the salon thronged with French officers, 
twisting their moustaches, and pacing up and down with 



20 



LANGUEDOC, 



fierce looks, and giving us a wide berth. On entering 
the salon we rejoined our party. 

La Marechale de Perignon entered the ball-room with 
her daughters, La Marechale on one arm of Captain 
W. Freer, and Mademoiselle on the vacant sleeve, he 
having lost his arm at the storming of Badajos. He 
has often declared to me since, that while he was 
standing on the summit of the great breach, he several 
times, with his sword, put the bayonets of the French 
aside as they placed the muzzles of their pieces over 
the parapet, so as to depress them sufficiently to fire 
down the slope of the breach, the crest of which was 
guarded from ingress by chevaux-de-frise. 

In this way the Dukes d'Angouleme, Dalmatia, and 
Albufera, came to pay their respects to Madame la 
Marechale. Marshal Soult asked a British officer if he 
had served, who being, at this epoch, far from au fait 
at the French language, replied promptly and energeti- 
cally, and laying the great stress upon the last word, 
Oui, mon duc—k ; this was final and conclusive. And 
the phrase of mon duck w T as not lost as a bon mot. 

Many of the French people would not or could not 
comprehend how it was possible for officers to have 
served so long without a mark of distinction ; and the 
more we endeavoured to explain the thing away, the 
more complex and difficult were their questions to solve. 
They would ask, " but how is this ? If the superior 
officers wear decorations, why not the others, if deser- 
ving them?" And when they were made to understand 
that there was a rule, nothing could exceed their mirth j 



LANGUEDOC. 



21 



and they would hold our buttons, and jeeringly say, 
that it was true w r e had ten buttons aside, and were 
well decorated. 

The French generals retired soon from the ball, to 
enjoy a few hours' repose for the coming review, which 
was to take place early the following morning. 

The room was crowded with ladies, but few of the 
French officers deigned to enter, and those few were 
very ill received. What a change a few T weeks had 
brought about towards those warriors whose smiles 
were then so coveted, and whose exploits were the 
theme of every tongue, but who were now slighted and 
scorned by their own countrywomen. During the 
waltz my friend was at my elbow ; but as a young lady 
tightly grasped his epaulette, to support herself during 
the exertion of the waltz, he whispered to her in the 
most droll manner, " take hold of my hair, ear, or any 
where else you please, but pray let go my epaulette." 
The dance continued until day-light ; we then walked 
to the promenade, where the French infantry were 
formed three deep under the trees, dressed in new 
white breeches and gaiters ; they looked crest fallen 
and cast down, but some unsubdued spirits muttered 
angry expressions as we passed along their line. Being 
once more seated in our cabriolet, we afforded exquisite 
amusement to a regiment of French hussars dressed in 
brown, or rather it was afforded by our soldier-servant, 
who was in full uniform, mounted on a pony with his 
knees nearly touching his chin, and toes turned out, 
with a pair of saddle-bags thrown across the back of 



22 



LANGUEDOC. 



the saddle ; and as the hussars cried vive, vive, we slily 
looked at him through the glass behind our leather- 
headed vehicle, until we were so convulsed with 
laughter, that we nearly drove into a ditch. 

The next fete champetre was at a chateau some 
distance from Montech. All the crazy vehicles were 
put into requisition for the ladies, and a sort of trium- 
phal cat, handsomely painted and gilded, was drawn 
by six bullocks, the horns of which were tastefully de- 
corated with wreaths of flowers ; this car was given to 
the Comtesse de Lanusse by the Queen of Naples, wife 
to Murat and sister to Napoleon. The officers escorted 
this cortege on horseback; on arriving at the chateau, we 
found the garden tastefully embellished for the occasion, 
and a long table laid out on the lawn with a dejeune d 
la fourchette. Here we passed a very happy day, 
playing all sorts of gambols amongst the shaded walks 
and fragrant shrubs, and completed the festivities by 
dancing to the lively roll of a village drum. The resplen- 
dent orb of heaven was sinking behind the verdant and 
vine-clad hills of Gascony before the cavalcade was 
again formed for our return ; and ere long the pale light 
of the moon reflected its rays on the peaceful cottages by 
the way side, adorned with intermingled garlands of the 
jessamine, the rose, and the honeysuckle. The nightin- 
gale warbled his thrilling notes, and the ladies chaunted 
in chorus as the cavalcade slowly wended along, inhaling 
the odoriferous sweets from a May vegetation: the 
gentle air was refreshing after the heat of the day, but 
on this tranquil evening it was not of sufficient force to 



LANGUEDOC. 



23 



fan into motion the leaves of the shrubs in the plains of 
Languedoc. On reaching the precincts of the town, 
the band was in waiting, and the whole of the ladies 
descended from their equipages, each chaperoned by 
an officer, and walked into the town, two and two, with 
the music playing a lively air ; a quadrille w r as formed 
in the market-place, and ended amid the plaudits of the 
well-conducted inhabitants ; moving thence in procession 
we drew up facing the house of la Marechale, where a 
single drum beat the rub-a-dub of village festivities. A 
supper table was laid out for our reception; round this 
board we closed the midnight revelry, and a happy 
morn guided our footsteps to our various abodes. 

Pleasure, it is truly said, is seldom without alloy ; an 
accident occurred amidst our gaieties which seemed a 
bad omen, for the next evening it was intimated that 
an English officer had been assailed on the bridge at 
Montauban by twenty French officers, who had pulled 
a white cockade out of his cap ; and we also heard that 
some officers of other corps had been told, that should 
they be inclined to visit Montauban, they had better 
appear in their shirt-sleeves, with Vepee a la main, 
without doubt a hint sufficiently broad for those who 
were not in the habit of figuring away at such exhibi- 
tions, or at the assaut d'armes. 

The officer who had been so rudely treated, informed 
us that, while crossing the bridge near Montauban, on 
his return to quarters, a string of French officers 
accosted him, and, before he was aware of their inten- 
tions, two of them seized the bridle of his horse, and a 



24 



LANGUEDOCa 



third snatched the forage-cap from his head and 
plucked from it the white cockade. Being unarmed, 
and beset by such disproportionate odds, he was, for 
the moment, under the painful necessity of submitting 
to the gross insult, but, as a matter of course, he was 
fully determined to pursue the only remedy on such 
occasions, by striving to find out and call to account 
one of the principal actors. 

My messmate, who was one of the best linguists in the 
corps, unhesitatingly took upon himself to seek out the 
French officer, and without more ado he rode towards 
Montauban. The French officers in that city were 
highly and very justly exasperated at the numerous and 
petty insults heaped upon their heads from all quarters, 
and above all by a despicable canaille, who had not 
dared to share in their toils and dangers, yet had selected 
this opportunity of spitting their mean spite and venom 
on men whom fate from their cradles had destined to 
live in unsettled times, without the liberty of choosing 
their future profession, and who were still compelled to 
be tools in the hands of their fallen superiors. 

The bonnet rouge had long ceased to be a talisman 
to a certain class. Doomed to meet with the exit of an 
old round hat, it had been consigned to the horny 
fingers of the chiffonnier, who now handled such a 
thing as an unworthy associate with the rest of his 
rags. The tree of liberty, as it was called, had been 
transplanted to other countries, and with great pains 
nurtured and pruned with the knife of monopoly by a 
class of gentlemen of small inheritance, who had not 



LANGUEDOC. 



25 



failed to help themselves largely of its golden fruit, but 
were now too happy to turn their backs upon it, and 
be permitted to embrace legitimacy, that they might 
retain those titles and revolutionary estates which, at 
the outset of their career, they had pretended to 
despise. 

Although these individuals, who tenaciously clung to 
the walls of the Tuileries, St. Cloud, and Versailles, were 
fascinated by the odour of the aristocratical bouquets 
of the Faubourg St. Germain, and dashed aside the 
humble cup of vin ordinaire, it was not so with the 
sous-officiers of the French army; their patriotic affec- 
tion for la belle France led them to fight duels to 
maintain her honour, and to uphold a martial renown 
which was so dearly bought. 

The officer of our regiment, selected upon the occa- 
sion of the cocarde blanc, reached the bridge of Mon- 
tauban on horseback, and was implored by the towns- 
people not to risk his person alone amongst the enraged 
French officers ; but, knowing of old that a British 
officer, divested of any badge of insult, was always 
safe amongst men who had so often fought in the field 
of honour, he was deaf to their entreaties. For at 
heart, neither he nor I cared more about the cocarde 
blanc than the chiffonnier did about the bonnet rouge. 
The thing, however, could not possibly be passed over, 
as the cockade had been indiscretely worn by a British 
officer without any deliberate intention of insult, It is 
not a little singular that I said to the individual who 
wore the cockade, " don't go into Montauban with that 

c 



26" 



LANGUEBOC 



badge ; you will be insulted, and, as British officers, we 
have no business to make such a display." But the 
person in question failed to profit by my friendly caution. 

A considerable group of French officers were in deep 
and anxious conversation in the Grand Place, having 
been just dismissed from parade, when the English 
officer rode towards them in full scarlet uniform. On 
his dismounting from his steed, they all, as though they 
were aware of his errand, turned round to look at his 
comely figure. When he was within a few paces of 
them he saluted, and said, u Messieurs les officiers, an 
English officer was insulted yesterday on the bridge, 
and I am deputed by him to demand that the individual 
who took the white cockade from his bonnet shall come 
forward to give that satisfaction which one militaire 
expects from another after such an outrage." The 
French officers bowed assent, and, after a little delay, 
an officer stepped forward and invited our officer to his 
billet de logement. The parties being seated and a bot- 
tle of wine produced, and the nature of the visit fully 
made known, the French officer opened a small table 
drawer and said, " la voila la cocarde blanc, c'est moi 
qui la prise, and I will give the English officer satis- 
faction." It was then agreed that a meeting should 
take place, with pistols, at six o'clock that evening, 
half-way between Montauban and Montech, each of 
the principals to be attended by two friends. 

Accordingly, every thing being in readiness, and our 
horses saddled, I was selected as one of the friends. 
We were on the point of setting out when a billet came 



LANGUEDOC, 



27 



from the French officer to say that his general had put 
him under close arrest, and that he could not for the 
present leave his quarters, but as soon as he was re- 
leased he would not fail to make his liberation known, 
and give the required meeting. 

A few days after this event, a French gentleman gave 
a, fete in his pleasure-grounds, where the tambour du 
village, the violin, and the military music enlivened the 
scene, and the joyful strains were wafted by the gentle 
zephyrs of a beautiful evening, while the dancers were 
gaily footing la colonne a VAnglaise on the green sward 
of the terrace overlooking the bright waters of the 
Garonne and the golden plains of Languedoc, which 
were fast ripening for the sickle of the husbandman. 
A messenger, of a suspicious aspect, from Montauban, 
stalked through this happy assemblage, and delivered 
a billet from the French officer, intimating that he was 
released from his arrest, and appointing eleven o'clock 
on the morrow to decide the quarrel of la cocarde blanc* 
Scarely had we perused its contents before the colonne 
de dance was dispersed, the music ceased to play, and 
a scene of wild confusion commenced ; ladies were faint- 
ing, chairs and tables were tossed over, and in a few 
minutes both our officers were placed under an arrest, 
that is to say, the principal and he who had ridden 
into Montauban to require satisfaction. 

A young lady came running towards me with an 
affrighted countenance ; in each hand she had a lettuce 
leaf, shining with oil and covered with pepper, which 
was held at arm's length to prevent its soiling her 

c2 



28 



LAN GUEDOC. 



transparent muslin dress. " Que voulez vous faire 7 
messieurs? exclaimed she, " ah, comme tu es mediant! 
le pauvre officier! cet mediant billet! they must not 
fight." The senior officer took my arm, and, after 
several turns, assuming an air of sternness, told me 
that he had ordered the two officers into confinement, 
and demanded of me all particulars ; my answer was 
evasive ; he then loosed my arm, saying, " Remem- 
ber you jnust stand the consequences of every thing 
which may. occur 9 " " Adieu," I answered, and left 
him.. 

The interest taken in this squabble by the royalists 
was beyond all credibility ; the town was in a perfect 
uproar, and some of its inhabitants offered to join in 
the fray, while others did all in their power to put an 
end to it, by protesting that they would oppose our egress 
from the town ; we were cross-questioned by every body, 
and all our motions carefully watched by the towns- 
people. Notwithstanding, by the contrivance of various 
emissaries, we succeeded in eluding their vigilance, 
and by five o'clock in the morning our horses had left 
the town ; the two officers broke the arrest, the prin- 
cipal by sliding down a steep wall ; and tramping over 
the country by circuitous paths, we all united, without 
further obstruction, at the preconcerted rendezvous. 
There we found our servants and horses in attendance, 
within half a mile of the spot where we expected to 
find the French officers. 

The tedious hours passed on leaden wings. It was 
within half an hour of the appointed time, when an 



LANGUEDOC. 



29 



officer went forward in search of our antagonist to 
make the final arrangements, while myself and the 
principal waited in a flower garden. We were all in full 
uniform, but as the principal had his white facings button- 
ed back, I persuaded him to button over, as so much 
white cloth might present too conspicuous a mark of 
direction for the Frenchman to fire at. In about an hour 
an officer came towards us at full gallop, and informed us 
that five French officers, (instead of three, as previously 
agreed upon,) were waiting in the middle of a fallow 
field, armed with small swords, and insisted on fighting 
with that weapon, although it w 7 as originally arranged, 
by common consent, that the combat should be w 7 ith 
pistols. Under such evasive circumstances I offered to 
go to hear what they had to say, leaving the principal 
to ruminate alone* I was induced to act thus by the 
apprehension that, under an excitement, he might be 
tempted to fight with the small sword, with the use of 
which he was by no means well acquainted. We found 
the five French officers standing in a field, behind the 
hedges of which a number of French peasantry, in 
white night caps, were watching the result of a rencontre 
so public. On reaching them we dismounted, and, after 
mutual salutations had been exchanged, we asked the 
reason why, in two instances, they had swerved from 
the original arrangements. In the first place they 
pleaded their want of pistols : this objection was soon 
done away with, by pointing to our holsters, in which 
there were two pairs already loaded, and a pair was 
offered for their use ; but to that proposition they 



30 



LANGUEI>OC<, 



declined acceding, on the ground that they did not nft^ 
derstand the use of them; and the principal remarked 
that the English officer whom he had insulted was not 
present. " That is true," we replied, " but he is at 
that house," pointing towards the flower-garden, " ready 
to exchange shots at a shorter distance than usual, if 
the French officer does not, as he avers, consider him- 
self a good marksman." 

They then proposed that one pistol should be loaded 
and the other not, and covered over with a handker- 
chief and taken by either party at a hazard, and for 
the principals to stand close, face to face, and for both 
to pull the triggers at the same moment. To this pro- 
position, in our turn, we objected. At this moment a 
Swiss officer stepped forward, and taking each of us by 
the hand, remarked how extremely odd it was that the 
English officers should wear white cockades, as they 
were not subjects of nor in any way connected with 
the French throne, or the internal broils of the French 
people. This was undoubtedly very reasonable- The 
Swiss officer went on to state that he had for many 
years been the friend of the principal, who was a first- 
rate soldier, and had served his country every way. 
He suggested, that, should his friend prove successful 
against the English officer, it would be his ruin, as the 
affair had become so public that it was now more a na- 
tional than a private quarrel, and he appealed to us as 
to the very awkward position in which they were placed. 
But it was too evident that all the stumbling blocks 
thrown in the way about swords was from some ulterior 



LANG U E DOC. 



31 



orders they had received from a higher quarter. This 
interview ended by their still refusing to engage with 
pistols, while, on the other hand, we reminded them 
that pistols were every where used on such occasions, 
and withheld our consent to permit our countryman to 
engage with swords with their companion, who was 
evidently picked out to do the business effectually as a 
matador ', he being, most probably, a maUre cVarmes. 
He was a well-made man, about thirty years of age, of 
sedate aspect, and his countenance bronzed with many 
campaigns, and stood five feet ten inches in height, 
English measure ; he wore a broad-topped chaco, a blue 
uniform, with a gold epaulette, blue pantaloons, and 
hessian boots, his small sword was buckled round his 
waist in a plain black leather belt, and his moustache 
of dark colour was well trimmed, and plenty of it. The 
other French officers were similarly attired, save that 
with his blue pantaloons, one of the four friends wore 
boots with brown tops. 

After a still further discussion they begged to post- 
pone the affair, and leave it to the arbitration of the 
French officers at Montauban. In justice to these 
militaires, we could not for a moment doubt their cou- 
rage ; but it was evident, from the hubbub amongst the 
civilians at Montauban, and an official report, with an 
account of the whole circumstance, ha vino; been for- 
warded to the restored Bourbons at Paris, that these 
officers only wanted to withdraw from the quarrel in a 
plausible manner, or, under some pretext, to give satis- 
faction to both parties ; but that was impossible, as so 



32 



LANGUEDOC. 



many clashing interests and long smothered passions 
had now burst forth and were kindled into a flame of 
discord. However., before we separated, we reminded 
the French officers that the English officer would always 
be ready for the encounter with a weapon used by gen- 
tlemen, not only throughout Europe but in all parts of 
the world. 

When we were within half a mile of Montech we found 

Monsieur - — and his son waiting by the side of the 

road ; and during the whole course of my existence 
never had I witnessed so much anxiety depicted in any 
man's countenance. Without affording us time to inform 
him of the result, he forced us from our horses, em- 
braced us, and wept bitterly; but when we told him 
that the French officers had declined fighting with pis- 
tols, his rage knew no bounds, he threw off his hat ? 
trampled it under foot in the dust, and then kicked it 
up in the air, his eyes almost starting from their sockets, 
as he vehemently exclaimed, " Oh les coquins ! les 
poltrons ! Ma foi ! les pistolets sont les armes de tout 
le monde ! They take la cocarde blanc comme les voleurs, 
and refuse to fight ! Eh bien, mes cheres enfans, venez 
diner chez un royaliste. C'est vrai que nous sommes les 
Francais a present/' 

Many of our officers were so angry at the conduct of 
the French officers, ji\ breaking their agreement in two 
instances, that they sent their sabres to be ground down, 
ready to meet a given number of the regiment to which 
the Frenchman belonged ; and an officer of our corps^ 
who had lost his right arm, insisted on making one of 



LANGUEDOC. 



33 



the party. However, in the afternoon, a French officer 
came expressly with an invitation from the general com- 
manding at Montauban, requesting to have our company 
to dinner, when it was proposed that the French officer 
should meet the English officer, embrace him, and 
make every concession in his power. This French officer 
dined and spent the evening with us. He assured 
us that their situation was horrible in the extreme, as 
the bourgeois of Montauban insulted them publicly in 
the streets, and had torn an epaulette from an officer's 
shoulder at noonday, saluting him with the most 
disgusting epithets, such as Les brigands de Marechal 
Soult, ou les officiers de quatre sous par jour. " Come 
to Montauban/' said he, " be nos bons camarades ; we 
will meet you at the bridge ; then should any one insult 
you the quarrel shall be ours ; we respect the English 
officers, we wish to be good friends ; but we are con- 
vinced you will not interfere with our domestic con- 
cerns." We told him that an answer would be returned 
to the French general on the morrow, but, in the 
meanwhile, an order came out, to forbid any further 
meeting or association with the French officers. It 
was issued by General Baron Alten, who, after the 
Salamanca campaign, had succeeded Sir Andrew Bar- 
nard in the command of the light division. Thus the 
affair dropped. 

Our officers had once broken their arrest ; we could 
do no more, and, under the plea of existing circum- 
stances, a polite excuse was sent to the French general. 
A fresh round of gaieties was now resorted to ; Madame 

c 3 



34 



LANOUEDOC* 



la Marechale de Perignon gave a dress ball, and in- 
vited the resident gentry from the various chateaux 
in the neighbourhood of Toulouse and Montauban. 
The night was remarkably fine, crowds of smiling 
grisettes clustered round the hall-door, and the wide 
staircase was lined on each side with small lamps and 
exotics, which produced a delightful effect. On 
making our bow to the young countess, she presented 
to each of us a small bouquet with the grace and 
affability of manner so peculiar to herself. The 
dancing was kept up until a late hour, when the 
supper-rooms were thrown open, brilliantly illuminated, 
and the lights interspersed with fragrant plants made 
the place resemble a fairy bower; pretty verses and 
couplets, said to be written for the occasion, extolling 
the beauty and known accomplishments of the different 
ladies encircling the festive board, were recited after 
the supper by various gentlemen ; and it was broad 
day-light ere this agreeable scene concluded. We 
then hastened home, for the purpose of enjoying a few 
hours repose, before again setting out, en cavalcade, 
with the same party for a chateau, where we were to 
pass the day, thence to proceed to Castel-sarrasin, 
where the second brigade of the light division were 
about to give a ball. The salon was crowded to excess, 
a splendid supper was provided, and the whole night 
passed like the former. At this period we had the 
bricklayers at work at Montech, in knocking two 
houses into one, for the purpose of forming a salon 
sufficiently large to contain the whole of our intended 



LANGUEDOC. 



35 



visitors. Some Italian artists were also employed in 
painting and decorating it for the occasion, with gilded 
fleurs-de-lis and other appropriate devices. The two 
hundred soldiers which had lately arrived from England 
were sent to Montauban, for the purpose of carrying on 
their heads the numerous soups, covered dishes, pies, 
pastry, and sweetmeats, for the entertainment, and as 
the young soldiers followed one after the other in single 
files, carefully picking their steps and balancing them- 
selves, they presented a highly amusing and interesting 
string, extending for nearly three quarters of a mile, 
calculating the intervals between each dish at six paces. 
The dress ball went off to our satisfaction, and with 
much eclat, until the female Italian artist joined the 
quadrille, which so shocked some of the company that 
they departed in prodigious wrath at such a monstrosity 
mixing with the party, 

Major-General Sir James Kempt, who was just going 
off to America, occupied a chateau in the neighbour- 
hood, and was involved in fetes as well as ourselves. 
Ours was, however, the great emporium of festivities, 
A sham fort was erected in the handsome ground laid 
out a 1' Anglais, which was to be stormed by Amazons 
or young ladies. Three or four of us dined with the 
general, and just as we w T ere entering the salle-a- 
manger the young lady, full dressed, whose beauty 
had so struck us at Toulouse, glided into the room. 
It would be superfluous to say how exceedingly de- 
lighted we were to see one whose person had been 
extolled every day since we first got a glimpse of her, 



36 



LANGUEDOC. 



and I sat in silent enjoyment to see whether she agaio 
knew my friend, whose person excelled other males as 
much as this young lady did her own sex — but more of 
this at a proper moment. 

Mademoiselle L — was the fair one selected to 

have the honour of leading the forlorn hope. After 
having taken coffee and liqueur we all stationed our- 
selves behind some shrubs. Every thing being in 
readiness, blue lights were thrown from the fort, and 
mademoiselle, accompanied by several young ladies, 
armed with wooden swords, and their heads crowned 
with paste-board helmets, led on the assault amidst a 
blaze of fireworks ; but, when the foremost were in 
the act of stepping on the draw-bridge, one of the ropes 
broke and the bridge fell on one side into the fosse : a 
mishap, added to the hissing of the fireworks, which 
frightened the young ladies to such a degree, that they 
came running back out of breath, and were hailed by 
a general burst of laughter. This so incensed Made- 
moiselle L — — — , that she seized the little flag out of 
one of the maiden's hands, and wildly rushing forward 
with all her life and soul, jumped into the fosse, ac- 
tually scrambled into the fort with her petticoats above 
her knees, amid the plaudits of the bystanders, hauled 
down the standard, and waved it over the painted 
battlements. The fort being nearly demolished, we 
re-entered the chateau, and a short French ; comedy 
was performed by a few of the visitors, which closed 
the diversions. 

The following morning, after breakfast, we all sallied 



LANG UEDOC. 



37 



from the chateau to examine the remains of the fort, 
and began to throw the squib papers at each other. 

Mademoiselle L ? being the leader of the sport, 

was full of sportiveness and joy, and in the height of 
her mirth rubbed the venerable and lean marquis's face 
all over with gunpowder. He made a hasty retreat into 
his chateau, but speedily returned, and took post be- 
hind a shrub, armed with an enormous syringe. Made- 
moiselle having collected certain projectiles, hastened to 
dislodge him, but her stock of ammunition being all 
expended, she rushed to the close, and when she was 
within a yard of the marquis he discharged the whole 
contents of his water-engine into the middle of her lap* 
which pierced her summer garments of thin texture 
through and through. She uttered an involuntary 
shriek, which so penetrated the heart of an aide-de- 
camp, who was the * marquis's bottle-holder, that, in 
a fit of excitement, he raised the heavy stone pitcher, 
and emptied its contents of cold spring water on the 
powdered bald pate of the marquis, who ran off as 
fast as his slender legs would carry him, and was soon 
seen waving a crimson pocket-handkerchief from one 
of the upper windows as a symbol of peace and har- 
mony. On entering we found his head sorely lace- 
rated and cut with the weight of the pitcher, a mishap 
which he bore with extreme good humour. 

Thus closed our six weeks' gaieties at the end of a 
sanguinary war. 

The whole British army being now setting out for 
Bordeaux, the dark Portuguese separated from them, 



38 



LA NGUKBOCi 



for the purpose of returning through Spain to the 
rocks of their own country. And oh, let me string the 
cords of memory ! Once, while at the foot of the hill on 
which Alfayates stands, in Portugal, sixty or seventy 
young lads, almost in a state of nudity, passed me 5 
their wrists tied one to the other with ropes, or ma- 
nacled with iron hand-cuffs; and, on asking where they 
were going, I was told, with a laugh, that they were 
" volunteers for the Portuguese army." 

These troops, that had fought for so many years side 
by side with the British, had attained the highest state 
of discipline, and seemed to take as much to heart the 
present separation as if they were about to be torn from 
their own countrymen ; they looked dejected and cast 
down, and as our troops merrily wished them adieu, 
they were almost speechless. These feelings were not 
put on, for I suppose these, our allies, had their ser- 
vices been required, would have followed the divisions 
they had fought with to any part of the globe. 

In June, being the rear division, we quitted Montech 
and its vicinity, to the unfeigned regret of the inhabi- 
tants, who accompanied us to the banks of the Garonne, 
the officers being dismounted behind the regiment, and 
in this manner they walked arm in arm with the ladies 
of Languedoc, who took leave of us on the banks of 
the river with tears in their eyes, saying that they never 
should cease to think of les habits rouge et le collet 
blanc. 

As the soldiers entered the boats for the passage of 
the river, crowds of grisettes were crying after their 



LANG UED0C. 39 

lovers — so much for female patriotism— and one, more 
desperate than the rest, floundered into the river to 
drown herself; but, fortunately, before she was ex- 
hausted, the soldiers succeeded in rescuing and hauling 
her into the boat, and in this way carried her across 
the river, and she was finally united in holy wedlock 
to the happy sergeant for whom she had risked so 
much. 

Some of us went back for a day or two, and I must 
not fail to mention that the evening amusements of 
the French gentry were diversified and frolicsome. 

Amongst others, Monsieur L at his own house 

would pin a twisted sheet of writing paper to that part 
of the trousers called the seat ; then a second person, 
male or female, would strive to set the wriggling paper 
on fire with a candle, but monsieur possessed so much 
suppleness, that the paper, projecting like a tail from 
his nether end, was seldom ignited, or seen in flames, 
from the fandango-like motions of that nameless part, 
(which is usually kept sacred, and covered with broad 
cloth, save and except of light infantry officers, hussars, 
and the horse-artillery, for, alack-a-day, we could not 
then boast of the lancer,) going through such contor- 
tions as to make the ladies hide their glances with their 
pocket-handkerchiefs ; for fans did not expand at this 
time in Languedoc, like those machines of gone-by 
antiquity. 

After a further stay of two days amongst these kind 
people, early in the morning those who had stopped 
behind bade a long and last farew T ell ; and at one house 



40 



LAN GUEDOC. 



we were ushered up stairs into a bed-room, where we 
found a young couple in bed, lying side by side ; this 
husband and wife both shed tears and embraced us 
tenderly, but, although I was now an experienced con- 
tinental traveller, I could hardly contain my smiles at 
this strange and novel scene. 

But at the conclusion of the war, there was such an 
abundance of kissing, as probably the like of it was 
never seen before, which put one in mind of the adage, 
" that none but the brave deserve the fair." There was 
kissing in the valleys, and kissing upon the hills, and 
in short, there was embracing, kissing, and counter- 
kissing, from Toulouse to Bordeaux. 



CHAP. IX. 



GASCONY. 

At the end of two days' march we arrived at Lectoure^ 
the birth place of Marshal Lannes, the ^valiant duke 
of Montebello, once the Orlando of the French army. 
The town is situated on a lofty hill, whence is a vast 
and extensive view over a beautifully shaped country, 
adorned with vast forests, and every description of 
vegetation to beautify the land, which is rich in almost 
every production for the wants of man. 

Myself and friend were this day quartered at a gen- 
tleman's house, and, upon entering, we saw a very 
interesting young lady at the window, and were not a 
little gratified at the father coming towards us in the 
hall, with the most polite professions, saying that 
everything in the house was at our service. In an- 
ticipation of spending a pleasant day, we threw off our 
marching-dress, and, in short, were resolved to say a 
great many pretty things to the young lady. But to 
our utter chagrin, hour after hour passed without a mes- 
sage or invitation of any sort to join the family circle ; 
the house was silence personified, and in utter despair 
we rushed forth, and consoled ourselves with the fine 
prospect from a summer-house on the top of this 
charming hill. Dinner time came, yet we saw nothing 



42 



G ASC0N Y. 



of our French gentleman and his professions, nor of his 
charming daughter. Chagrined at this freezing recep- 
tion, we said all sorts of ill-natured things, and at 
last vowed if we were to meet her in the passage 
that we would not bow or speak to her. This was, 
indeed, a long day, and we over and over again 
cogitated whether the fault could rest with the father 
or the demoiselle ; but it was finally decided to emanate 
from the young lady, otherwise she would at least 
have contrived to come out of a door in a hurry, and 
just give a glance towards us. For even the nieces of the 
cures would do this in spite of bolt, key, or other priestly 
contrivances. Notwithstanding we wandered about in 
such a passion, first going to the garret of the house, 
then to the back towards the stables, and crossing and 
recrossing the passage, listening from time to time, all 
was as disagreeably quiet as the cloisters of any con- 
vent. 

At last, oh glorious intelligence ! the ladies of the 
town sent a deputation to request that the English 
officers would give them a ball, offering at the same 
time a small amateur theatre belonging to the private 
families of the place. Now, what an opportunity was here 
presented to show our mean spite ! We vowed that we 
would not invite the young lady of this house, or even 
let her know that a dance was to take place. And 
this, in some measure, consoled us for the abominable 
slight put upon our red-coated persons, in a country, 
where we had been made too much of ; for no two 
children could have been more vexed at the loss of a 



GASCONY. 



43 



toy than we were by the unaccountable want of taste 
which we considered this piece of female marble as 
having displayed. Still we hoped she would be at 
the ball, that we might have an opportunity of asking 
the young lady or ladies right and left of her to 
dance, without our taking any notice of her. She, 
however, was not there. We danced all night, and 
obtained permission to remain behind the regiment, 
and getting up at nine o'clock the next morning, we 
went to the stable, coiled up the halters, and putting 
the bridles upon our horses, which were already 
saddled, we mounted and left the house, by the gate 
of the yard. There we saw the young lady at the 
front window. How shall I find words to describe her? 
She gave a faint smile, but we turned away our indig- 
nant faces, set spurs to our horses and trotted off, 
without deigning to stop. But snatching a glance, I 
saw her put her pocket-handkerchief to her eyes : — 
how remarkable ! how unaccountable ! What must be 
her feelings to know that the inmates of her house 
were dancing all night, and that she was not allowed 
to participate in the darling amusement of the fair sex, 
and with les etrangers aussi ; added to which, my 
companion M — — was one of the handsomest young 
officers that ever was seen ; wherever he went all eyes 
were turned on him, in France, England, and Spain. 
The men admired him universally, and the fair sex 
loved him unanimously, aye in a body. This must 
demonstrate his merit past all manner of doubt ; for 
when both sexes with one accord unite in admiration^ 



44 



GASCON Y. 



doubt can no longer exist. No portrait could do jus-* 
tice to the expression of his eyes, his fine healthful 
cheeks, white forehead, dark locks, moustache, and 
commanding person. We were now convinced that the 
fault did not rest with the fair object already spoken 
of. She was now a dear, charming, lovely girl, shut 
up in a cage,— poor dear thing ! and, as we jogged 
along the pleasant way, we regretted that we had not 
kissed our hands to her. Really our behaviour was 
unpardonable, cruel, barbarous. But let it be remem- 
bered, in extenuation, that the pain we had endured 
had made us lose for a moment the equilibrium of our 
politeness, nay, even our affection as general lovers. 

The portraiture of my good friend M— may 

seem overdrawn to all those who did not know him ; 
but such was his influence over the fair sex, that upon 
one occasion a Dutch woman burst out crying because 
a barber had made too free with his locks. He had 
a brother in the rifle corps, extremely tall, and always 
full of genuine humour ; in fact, wherever he showed 
himself some fun was always going on ; he was ex- 
ceedingly good tempered, but was most confoundedly 
annoyed when officers of the rifle corps were taken for 
Portuguese, which was very often the case. Then, 
again, the foreigners could not understand their not 
wearing epaulettes, and they were under the painful 
necessity of telling the people in every town they went 
to that they were really officers. " But/' said the 
people, " where's the epaulette ? " And then there 
was another mistake, for when they wore their pelisses 



GASCONY. 



45 



they were mistaken for hussars. Then came another 
long explanation to satisfy the curious French, how it 
was that foot riflemen wore clothes like hussars. So 
that whenever this rifle-officer came to me, I used to 
say, " but where's the epaulette ?" well knowing he 
would pay me off with interest the first good oppor- 
tunity. For he w 7 ould often bawl out a secret, to the 
utter dismay of worthy individuals, who really and 
truly wished to keep some little flirtation from pub- 
licity. But this rifle-officer was privileged and irre- 
sistible, and I have often seen a crowd of culprits dis- 
perse when he was in sight, coming on at full drive to 
turn gravity into monstrous ridicule. 

The following day leaving Lectoure, we entered 
Condom, where we halted one whole day, and the 
young lady of the house was so struck with the ap- 
pearance of my friend M that she brought all 

the young ladies in the town to see the beau jeune 
Anglais, by which title they were pleased to designate 
him. We now approached Bordeaux by easy marches, 
having daily billets de logement, either in good towns 
or chateaux, the cellars filled with the choicest wines, 
and the gardens abounding in flowers and luscious 
strawberries. The soil round Bordeaux is sandy; here 
the vine is regularly planted and highly cultivated, 
and is generally about the size of a gooseberry bush. 
Bullocks or horses drag a light plough between them, 
which turns up the fresh sand or mould and revives 
their stems. In this neighbourhood the grisettes are 
better dressed than in any other part of France that 



46 



GASCONY. 



I ever visited ; they wear large handsome white trans- 
parent caps, which are extremely becoming. While 
we were marching in broad sections, we met many of 
the squalid and lean French prisoners returning from 
their long confinement at Norman-cross, Stapleton, 
Dartmoor, and Mill prisons, and the hulks of Eng- 
land, who were obliged to stand by the side of the 
road or in the ditches, to make way for the soldiers, 
from whose cockades drooped roses or various other 
flowers, as they merrily tramped along the dusty roads 
under a clear sky, chuckling at the idea of getting the 
best cogniac for a franc a bottle. This sight must have 
been extremely mortifying after the protracted suffer- 
ings of these unhappy Frenchmen, whose bad fortune 
still pursued them, in dooming them to be cast into 
their native country at a time when their former ser- 
vices and long captivity produced no sympathy for all 
the hardships they had endured. 

As soon as we had passed through the thronged 
streets of Bordeaux, the clouds of dust flying up in 
dense volumes, we halted in a wood about three miles 
from it, and had hardly time to brush off the dust of 
the march when we were ordered to form all along the 
high road to be reviewed by the newly created Duke of 
Wellington. We were at the same time informed, that 
some of the other divisions, which, like ourselves, had 
marched from the coast of Portugal to Bordeaux 
under his command, had cheered his Grace, but that 
there was an order against any more cheering. 

The Portuguese riflemen, or Ca§adores, clothed in 



G A SCON Y. 



47 



brown, having left us, with another regiment, the light 
division composed little more in numbers than a strong 
brigade. 

The Duke of Wellington passed along the line from 
right to left, mounted on a white charger, w 7 hich was 
covered with a netting. His Grace was dressed in the 
scarlet uniform of a field-marshal, and decorated with 
orders and military distinctions, the blue riband being 
across his right shoulder. We were told that his Grace 
was just returned from Madrid and Paris, after paying 
his respects to Louis XVIIL and King Ferdinand VII., 
who were so recently restored to the thrones of their 
royal ancestors, in consequence of the conclusion 
of this war. The Autocrat of all the Russias, de- 
nominated " of glorious memory," and the King of 
Prussia, were gone to England with a retinue of illus- 
trious individuals, to visit the Prince of Wales, the 
heir apparent to the throne of Great Britain and 
Ireland, who was. now acting as Prince Regent. The 
Emperor Francis of Austria did not join these royal 
visitors; as he was delicately situated, and was also 
escorting the Princess Maria Louisa, the ex-French 
Empress, and her son the ex-King of Italy, from Ram- 
bouillet to the Austrian dominions. 

I know that it has been said that Wellington was 
unpopular with the army. The question now is, with 
what part of the army, those actually carrying arms or 
the absentees ? Now I can assert with respect to the 
light division that the troops rather liked Wellington 
than otherwise. The soldiers w r ould exclaim, in the 



48 



GASCONY. 



ranks, " oh, here he comes I" I can bear testimony 
that Wellington looked favourably upon those regi- 
ments that had been first organized by the ever-to-be 
lamented general Sir John Moore. At the same time, 
uninfluenced by any bigotted or undue partiality to- 
wards those troops, which might perhaps be suspected 
from my having belonged to them, I must say that 
Wellington was quite justified in looking upon them 
with favour, as both officers and men in the gross con- 
ducted themselves highly respectably, while formed as 
the light division. 

Although Wellington was not what may be called 
popular, still the troops possessed great confidence in 
him, nor did I ever hear a single individual express an 
opinion to the contrary. And yet, singular as it may 
appear, although the troops were glad to see him, 
and when ordered on to the attack, threw on their 
knapsacks with intrepid alacrity, yet I never for a 
moment heard his absence regretted, or a single soldier 
express the least anxiety at the want of his presence 
in any onset that I ever saw made, from the storming 
of a field-work to the assault of a breach, or even on 
the eve of a great battle. The moment a division was 
ordered to the attack on the men went, without once 
demanding or looking whether the commander-in-chief 
was present or absent. Such is the truth, and such 
was the sort of fashion in those days. But let it not 
be thought that British troops are without esprit. This 
would be doing them an unpardonable piece of in- 
justice. They are quite as knowing as the French, 



GASCON Y. 



49 



possessing generally and individually good sound reason 
as to causes and events, but implicitly obeying their 
superiors, without intruding their opinions while under 
arms. Nor are they without enthusiasm; they attack with 
the ardour and celerity of the French, and in this are 
quite upon a par with them, and this is saying much. The 
French develope their attacks admirably; but in posi- 
tion I must give the palm to the British ; they are so 
imperturbably cool, waiting the approach of an enemy 
to the last moment, and then, like the English archers 
of old, pouring into the attacker's columns an over- 
powering volley. Such a shock it is almost impossible 
to withstand, however intrepid an enemy may be. There- 
fore, with such troops, the gaining of victories cannot be 
considered a miracle or an unexpected event in the 
historical archives of Great Britain and Ireland. 

Wellington was anything but strict to the officers of 
the army, from the general down to the ensign, and was 
exceedingly considerate in giving them permission from 
time to time to return to England, Ireland, and Scot- 
land, as a relaxation from the privations and toils of 
the field. Some went home upon private affairs ; others, 
whose constitutions were not cast in nature's mould for 
that climate, took advantage of doctors' certificates ; 
others were maimed or disabled from wounds ; others 
went home or to other foreign countries to join first or 
second battalions to which they respectively belonged, 
or upon promotion. Some figured at one battle and 
others at another, for the scene, though constantly 
shifting, was ever active ; some fought in Portugal, 

D 



50 



GASCON Y. 



some in Spain, and some in France ; others fought not 
at all, and never once saw the smoke of an enemy, for 
the doctor pronounced them incapable of service. The 
comprehensive words " Peninsular War" embraced all 
these occurrences, whether in winter quarters, in an 
advance, or a retreat; and for the correctness of the 
closing statement the director-general of the army, Sir 
James McGregor, and others, can vouch. 

Let it be clearly understood that when I assume to 
talk upon the popularity of the Duke of Wellington 
with the army at large, I do so with the military 
pen, well knowing that popularity has nothing to do 
with military discipline, nor, indeed, is needful for one of 
his Majesty's lieutenants or generals to possess in the 
command of an army ; his soldiers being only living in- 
struments placed at his disposal by a superior power, 
to be employed in whatever manner may be most con- 
ducive to the honour and welfare of the country. The 
above statements are only intended as historical facts 
to make out a broad outline of the Peninsular picture ; 
for, when an artist chalks out a military sketch or 
lays on the colours, it would look rather odd if through 
the smoke a few of the working soldiers were not repre- 
sented in the back ground, or that some allies coming 
to the assistance of the said army were not introduced 
into the composition, which would be something like a 
great sculptor chiselling a horse and rider, and forgetting 
the saddle-girth. 

In addition to his natural qualifications, few men 
could boast of enjoying more worldly good fortune in 



GASCON Y. 



51 



every sense of the word than his Grace. He has a 
robust constitution, and without showing fatigue will 
remain on horseback as long as most men ; and in the 
field of battle or other combats he very often might be 
seen alone, riding at full speed from post to post, 
from squadron to battalion, and from battalion to larger 
columns, and so on, and might have lost his life by a 
stray ball without any one knowing what had become 
of him. 

His Grace stands about five feet nine inches in 
height ; he possesses a keen eye, and a prominent pro- 
file, and his countenance has a more searching and re- 
markable expression than is represented in any paint- 
ing of him by the most esteemed masters of the day. 
His shoulders are broad, his arms long, his legs well 
made and straight, and no doubt he possesses a good 
share of muscular strength. 

As he has never received a severe wound in action, 
and has had many remarkable escapes, many people 
have asked whether the duke is bullet-proof; while 
others, unpractised military men as well as civilians, 
have come to the preposterous conclusion that his Grace 
has escaped unscathed, because he has never been ex- 
posed to great and imminent peril. 

But wounds in battle are no criterion to judge of a 
man as a soldier, however honourable they may be or 
may look to the eye, and however great the pain which 
the sufferers may endure from the lock-jaw, the dreadful 
festerings, and all the anguish of amputation, the 
want of water, and a thousand other pains and sufferings, 

d 2 



52 



GASCONY* 



that must always call from the beholder the utmost 
sympathy, and to the admiring glance show ample 
testimony of the battle field. 

But how often have I heard men exclaim of Napoleon, 
and other commanders, why did he or they not rush 
forward and meet an honourable death? This, I say, is 
impossible to do ; a man may pick up the smoking 
wadding from the cannon's mouth, he may seize the 
point of the bayonet, or grapple with the foe, and even 
then fall alive and unhurt into the hands of the enemy. 
It is so ordained by a Supreme Power that a man can- 
not quit life in battle at his own will and pleasure, even 
when he is in the very jaws of destruction. 

How often have I seen officers and soldiers struck 
down in the columns of reserve, without having ever 
seen the face of an enemy, or without having drawn 
their swords or pulled a trigger, whilst others, who 
were enveloped in fire and smoke, fought at close 
quarters and yet escaped the mortal bullet or equally 
mortal thrust. 

How often have I seen men killed or maimed while 
fast asleep in the trenches at the siege of a fortress. 
Upon one occasion an officer had both his legs carried 
off by the bursting of a shell when he was in his hut, 
wrapped in the arms of sjeep. Upon another occasion, 
at the siege of Badajos, a private soldier feigned illness, 
and could not be prevailed on to take his turn in the 
trenches. But, at length, in the middle of the night, 
flattering himself that he should be safe under the 
cover of its murky mantle, he plucked up courage to 



GASCON Y. 



53 



try his fortune, knowing, too, that he should be re- 
lieved at day-break. Just at early dawn, curiosity 
prompted him to peep through the embrasure of a 
battery ; a flash was seen followed by a loud report 
from the walls of the fortress, and from the first gun 
which was fired throughout that night a cannon-shot 
took half this man's head off. So much for la fortune 
de la guerre. 

Once I saw a camp-kettle knocked off a fire by an 
iron round-shot and all the soup spilt ; and I also 
witnessed a huge shell fall upon and bury in the earth 
a knapsack, which a soldier had just packed and 
placed on the ground. But, after all, who could call 
the above a gallant camp-kettle or an heroic knapsack ? 
Not that I mean to aver by this statement that a man 
in the front of the battle is not in more danger than 
he who is often in the rear. But again I repeat that 
balls and bullets are so capricious that they often strike 
high and low, and near and far off, without ceremony 
or distinction. 

The Duke of Wellington's staff during this war, 
with the exception of here and there a broken period, 
generally consisted of Major-General Sir George Mur- 
ray, Quartermaster-General; Adjutant-Generals Major 
General Sir Charles Stewart, now Marquis of London- 
derry, and Major-General the Honourable S. E* Paken- 
ham ; Aides-de-camp, Prince William of Orange, Sir 
C. Campbell, Captain Lord Clinton, Marquis of Wor- 
cester, Lieut-Colonels Gordon, and Freemantle, Sir 
Ulysses Bourg, now Lord Downes, the Earl of March, 



54 



GASCON Y. 



now Duke of Richmond, Captain Fitzclarence, tenth 
hussars, now Earl of Munster, Lieut.-Colonel Waters, 
and Lord Fitzroy Somerset, private secretary. 

These aides-de-camp were separately appointed to 
take home despatches from time to time, after certain 
great battles or combats, to announce to His Britannic 
Majesty and his good people of Great Britain and Ire- 
land the glorious intelligence, as well as to make known 
the prowess of their countrymen. 

Marshal Sir William Beresford commanded and or- 
ganized the Portuguese troops, and the Spanish gene- 
rals held the reins of command over their own troops, 
although, finally, they were under the sole orders of 
the English generalissimo. General Don Miguel Alava 
lived with the head-quarters of the British at the now 
well-known village of Frenada, in Portugal, so often 
the resting-place of Wellington after the toils of the 
field. This amiable and experienced officer was of 
much service in keeping up the good understanding 
between the Spanish Cortes and the British forces. 
When the war was brought to a conclusion, he was 
offered a gold snuff-box by the British government of 
that day, which he refused like a true Caballero, # saying, 
that he had only done his duty towards his country ; 
and when he told me this, with his hand on my shoulder 

* The above conversation I had with General Alava^ at a place 
called Egypt, in the Isle of Wight, at the house of Admiral Sir John 
Beresford ; the general, who was then an exile from his country, had 
received a hurt on his leg from some heavy tackling or beam of a ship 
falling on it while on his voyage from Gibraltar. 



GENERAL EVENTS, 



55 



and his kind and pleasing eye fixed on my face, he 
exclaimed, A snuff-box for serving my country ! This 
distinguished and worthy man told me that he had 
fought at the battle of Trafalgar against Nelson with 
the Spanish fleet. When I asked him which he 
thought the most terrible, a sea or a land fight, he 

said that a sea engagement was a d d row, but for 

killing the thousands the land fight was de ting. 

The eight British divisions, during the war in the 
south of Europe, were known by the names of the 
generals who usually commanded them, such as 
" Graham's division," " Hill's division," H Picton's divi- 
sion," " Cole's division," " Hay's division," u Clinton's 
division," " Dalhousie's division," and " Craufurd's 
division," the latter of which, by way of novelty, has 
been also called the u eighth division." As I am but 
a traveller, my brief space will not allow me to descant 
on many well known names of English, Portuguese, 
and Spanish military gentlemen^ whose services deserve 
a wreath from those countries which may claim the 
honour of having produced them. 

GENERAL EVENTS. 

Napoleon, the founder of the new imperial dynasty, 
having at this epoch embraced the eagle, and made his 
farewell to the vieux garde at Fontainebleau, was escorted 
under the British flag to the Island of Elba, still hold- 
ing the title of emperor, and attended by a few fol- 
lowers. 

This extraordinary man, the son-in-law of the Em- 



56 



GENERAL EVENTS. 



peror Francis of Austria, as well as the associate of 
emperors and kings, who, while at Milan, placing the 
iron crown of Lombardy on his head, with firm resolve, 
uttered proudly, " Dio me Vha data, guai a chi la 
tocca," " God has given it to me, woe to those who 
shall touch it," was now reduced to the sovereignty of 
a diminutive island. 

Folio volumes must be referred to for the details 
of all his prodigious victories, and for his martial 
pageantry, and the soul-stirring harangues which he 
himself pronounced to his troops. A catalogue of hor- 
rors and revolutionary events, protracted through a period 
of sixteen years, ended only by raising to supremacy 
this military dictator, first in the capacity of general, 
and so on till he became the first consul of France, 
Emperor, King of Italy, and the Protector of the Con- 
federation of the Rhine. The assumption of all these 
titles naturally calls for a few remarks ; but the web 
of history is so curiously interwoven that it is dif- 
ficult to unravel the thread of it, and it is still more 
difficult to elucidate facts without causing those edu- 
cated in the old school to swoon before proper resto- 
ratives are at hand to revive them, or the cambric 
handkerchief is perfumed. Under these delicate cir- 
cumstances, where, in the name of wonder, is the 
historian to find a secure bottom to throw out his 
grappling irons ? It appears to me, however, that the 
beginning of the great European change of politics was 
wrought soon after the fleur-de-lis and the drapeau 
blanc were entrelaces with the star-bespangled flag of 



GENERAL EVENTS. 



57 



the union of America. But I will pause here; for 
I know that to navigate it through breakers, shoals, 
and quicksands, the political bark requires a first-rate 
pilot, who ought to be ever ready to reef or to let out 
canvas according to the signs of the ever-varying 
horizon ; and, as I can neither reef nor steer, I had 
better say little on the subject. It would, indeed, be 
absurd in me to wade up to my chin through an un- 
satisfactory slough, as, even at present, I am up to 
my knees in a pair of mud-boots, which will be seen 
as the reader goes on, and turns leaf over leaf. More- 
over, to those who are fond of smoking, it will be far 
wiser to whiff a pipe and blow the froth from the 
rim of a tankard, under the matronly sign-boards of 
" Mother Red-Cap" and " Mother Black-Cap," in the 
fair county of Middlesex, where so many have stopped 
to refresh during the early times in question. 

I will, therefore, revert to my original subject. And 
here I must have a word with the posse of detractors, 
who have constantly depreciated the military reputation 
of the British troops, in comparison with that of the 
French during a considerable part of the war. Let 
them reflect with what irresistible violence the revo- 
lutionary torrent burst forth, sweeping before it so 
many generals and illustrious individuals, who were 
obliged to vacate the field of strife, and others, 
hurried along by the rapid current of fate, lost their 
footing, and were swept away without having time to 
cogitate upon the regular movements of strategy. 
Much praise is due to those who, from year to 

d 3 " 



58 



GENERAL EVENTS. 



year, patiently waited for better days, took advan- 
tage as occasion offered, of the mishap or the weak- 
ness of the foe, and hoped that the day would come 
when fortune would change, and they might display? 
for their country's benefit and glory, the talents with 
which Heaven had gifted them.— And the day did 
come ; their hopes were realized ; and their names and 
deeds are traced on the tablets of fame. 

It is almost bewildering to meditate upon ail that 
was brought about by these devastating wars for a 
quarter of a century — the loss of life,, and other dire- 
ful calamities from the two-edged sword — the sub- 
version or change of states — the many individuals of 
small note the surf of these wars cast up into notice- 
diadems which were craved for and tried on by once 
obscure persons— and the glittering stars and brilliant 
honours dangling from the bosoms of officers and 
soldiers who gained these testimonials of renown amid 
the smoking wadding or the burning cartridge paper in 
the field of honour. 

Under the walls of the Kremlin Napoleon had 
reached the zenith of his fame as a conqueror. Even 
after his military genius had been forced to succumb to 
the bitter northern ice and snow, his evening star 
still shone resplendent for a time in Germany. 
But the days of his martial fame were numbered, and 
the lamp of his dynasty, augured to give perpetual 
illumination, already revolved in its socket, and gave an 
uncertain light. 

It is rather remarkable that, notwithstanding all his 



GTENERAL EVENTS. 



59 



victories, Wellington was retrograding from Spain into 
Portugal, followed by Marshal Soult, at the identical 
time that Napoleon was retiring from Russia. 

Napoleon himself was the grand centre of every 
thing military in Europe, while his legions were com- 
bating north and south. He seemed, however, to 
reserve himself to face the crowned heads, potentates 
of Europe ; for, with the exception of personally di- 
recting the march on Madrid, in 1808, he always took 
the field against sovereigns, and sent his different mar- 
shals to meet Wellington. 

Long will it be ere the day shall again arrive when 
the French sentinel, his bright bayonet fixed, the eagle 
on his martial cap, and the hairy pack upon his back, 
shall see his shadow reflected in the bright waters of 
the Guadalquiver, or cry qui vive under the walls of 
the Alhambra; or ere the cockade of red, blue, and 
white shall be worn by the French grenadier under the 
portico of Saint Peter's, at Rome, and the imperial 
eagle be planted there by him. Long indeed will it 
be before the polished cuirass and the brazen casque 
of the French cuirassier shall appear, as by magic, at 
those far removed points of Europe on one and the 
same day. 

To say who bore the largest part in unseating Napo- 
leon from his war-horse, after his direful loss of a host 
of men in the north, would be assuming too much, and 
might cause a jealousy amongst the many that went 
into the arena in turn to break a lance with him at that 
eventful period. 



60 



GENERAL EVENTS, 



During the first half of Napoleon's war-course Nel- 
son cleared the seas, and at the finale the Emperors of 
Russia, Austria, and King of Prussia, cleared the land* 
and finished their task by the capture of Paris. There 
can be little doubt that each of these empires and 
kingdoms possesses an historian capable of doing 
justice to the glorious deeds of the hero who represents 
the particular country to which he may belong ; and, 
therefore, I shall only say that foremost among the 
heroic names of that epoch stand those of Prince 
Blucher and the Duke of Wellington. 

Towards the closing of the scene, the echo of the 
cannon from Muscovy and the walls of the Kremlin pro- 
duced a prodigious effect on the ears of the gentlemen 
in office, who were sipping their coffee and perusing 
the Moniteur at their hotels; but when it was 
ominously buzzed through the streets of Paris itself 
that the pike of the Cossack of the Don was gleaming 
at the very barriers of the faubourgs of the city, then 
it was that these gentlemen, whose mansions had been 
furnished by war contributions, and who had read of 
the conflagration at Moscow, the siege of Zaragoza, the 
capture of Madrid, Rome, Naples, Vienna, Venice, Ber- 
lin, Lisbon, Alexandria, and Grand Cairo, with so much 
placidity— now cried, " hold, enough ! France requires 
repose/' Then the Duke of Otranto took upon himself 
to answer for the peace of the now beleaguered city of 
Paris ; and although the French grenadier " ne se rend 
jamais/' the simple soldat, however, with great finesse 
and difficulty, was prevailed upon to reverse his arms, 



GASCONY. 



61 



as the finger of the wily politician pointed emphatically 
towards the Salle des Mare chaux at the Tuileries. 

GASCONY. 

But I must draw within the shell of my narrative. 
My pen has taken a more extensive flight than I pre- 
meditated, and has glided across the smooth surface 
of my paper so deviously, that my reader may have 
totally forgotten that I left him in the south of France, 
in the vicinity of Bordeaux, drawn out before the Duke 
of Wellington. A few hours after this review we were 
told that a French young lady asked to have the 
honour of kissing the Duke's hand, and that, instead 
of presenting his hand, his Grace dismounted and 
most gallantly imprinted a kiss upon her fair cheek ; 
her emotions on receiving this unexpected honour so 
overcame her, that Mademoiselle fell into her father's 
arms dissolved in tears. 

In the afternoon most of us rode into Bordeaux, and 
were highly pleased with so fine a city and its amuse- 
ments. Our division then proceeded to Blanchefort 
camp, where still remained encamped a great many 
regiments of the army ; from whence by degrees some 
of them were drawn off for England, while others were 
destined for the United States of America, the Court 
of St. James's still being at war with the Union. At 
this camp three of us contrived to ensconce ourselves 
in a chateau at the extremity of an avenue, a short 
way behind the great plain or tented field. The 
weather continued exceedingly fine. Jack Rag was 



62 



GASCON Y. 



our cook, a well known soldier, who had cooked for 
many a departed master ; he and another soldier named 
Robinson were the two great rivals in this exquisite 
art in our camps. They were fighting cooks withal. 
Robinson I saw wounded at the battle of Vittoria ; a 
musket-ball entered his abdomen. This celebrated and 
accomplished cook had on two pairs of trousers at the 
time, which luckily saved his life. The bullet forced 
the cloth of both pairs into the body without perforating 
or even rupturing the cloth, and it was extracted by 
laying hold of each end of the waistband. The 
man soon recovered, and rejoined his corps, to elicit 
more smiles from those who did not turn up their noses 
at a good ragout, or his prodigal way of melting down 
the manttca de puerco de Espafia. 

This camp was the scene of many curious extrava- 
gancies, and was converted into a sort of race-course 
for equestrian courtesans a-straddle on hack-horses, and 
in male attire, from Bordeaux. Many of their full- 
moon faces, and other large proportions both before and 
behind, were strikingly prominent, and rolling from side 
to side like the hull of a ship in a gale of wind ; they 
were, in fact, the very acme of fat women with leather 
saddles betwixt their legs, and of gross vulgarity in all 
its most unfeminine deformity. 

The hardy and swarthy-faced Spanish muleteers 
with filigree buttons had been paid the residue of their 
demands on the English army with treasury-bills ; but 
hearing that these bills, after reaching England in 
safety, would be discharged with other paper, these 



GASCONY. 



63 



picaros were taken aback, for they knew as much about 
the Bank of England, the Stock Exchange of London, 
the English monetary system, and Long Annuities, 
Indian Bonds, Scrip, or Consols, as they did about the 
inhabitants of the moon. Under these circumstances, 
they were willing to dispose of the said treasury- bills at 
such a discount as would have made an antiquated 
usurer bite his nails and gnaw his finger-ends at the loss 
of such a bargain. Some of the followers of the army, 
who happened to have hard dollars and other coins 
under lock and key, were the thrice lucky caitiffs to buy 
and hoard up these treasury-bills for one -half, or, more 
properly speaking, for one-third of their real value, 
The premium, in favour of these Spanish and Por- 
tuguese pastoral travellers, did rise a little when the 
circumstances of this extraordinary monopoly got wind ; 
but not till it was too late to rectify the fraud executed 
by the monied followers of the army, many of whom 
had stored in strong box the cash, which had been 
carried at the public expense; some of the specie, which 
was thus employed, consisted of the very doubloons 
and dollars taken on the field of Vittoria, or purloined 
from other sources, in spite of the vigilance of the 
provost-martial with his crimson feather, his crimson 
sash, and his red nose, with a rope's end dangling 
from the pummel of his saddle on one side, and a 
cat-o ? -nine tails from the other. I must observe, en 
passant, that the provosts, in general, had the look of 
jolly fellows who were devoted to the ardent spirit called, 
in Spain, Aguardiente, 



64 



GASCON Y. 



I can vouch that the working officers had little to do 
with the treasury-bills in question ; for I hardly ever 
knew one of these children of war, these receivers of 
bullets at point blank distance, who had a couple of 
spare dollars in his pocket, without their being soon 
melted down at the cafe or elsewhere. For my part, 
at the end of the war I had a pair of white wash 
trousers. A most accomplished and lovely French 
demoiselle, after dancing all night, once took my 
rumpled trousers under her arm to get them washed 
for the coming evening dance. I can boast, and it is 
a proud boast, that all the time I was in Portugal, 
Spain, and France, I only spent seventy pounds over 
and above his Majesty's pay, after my first fitting out ; 
but some others squandered very large sums of money, 
and their expenses were enhanced by dollars often 
being procurable only at a most enormous and ruinous 
discount. I should have crossed my pen over this 
statement of my own little expenditure, and have said 
nothing about the drawing of my purse-strings, or 
rather those of an old worsted stocking, had not others 
told, on their legs, in plaintive terms how little self and 
friends had made in his Majesty's service to keep 
up appearances* 

At that period, the price of everything was excessive- 
ly enhanced. Biscuit, hard, soft, and rotten, was 
masticated by us in camp, at the enormous cost to the 
British government of half-a-crown a pound on many 
occasions ; it having been brought up hundreds of 
leagues on mules' backs for the army. This is cal- 



GASCONY. 



65 



eulating the tonnage of shipping for its first transport, 
and thence travelling from mountain to river, over 
extensive plains, according to the circles, half-circles, 
quarter-circles, zig-zags, and other forward, retrograde, 
and flank movements of military strategy. 

Our camp ground being traced out, we made for 
Bordeaux to pass a few days, where we sold all our 
cattle at a very low rate ; and the wonder was how we 
disposed of them or found purchasers, for the whole 
army were selling off cattle almost at the same time. My 
Rosinante, with English saddle and bridle, brought me 
twenty-five dollars, having served me for upwards of 
three years, and never sent but once sick to the rear 
without its rider ; this trusty animal I was forced to 
part with much against my inclination : my other ani- 
mal, although excellent of its kind, brought me very 
little. The different restaurateurs and cafes in Bor- 
deaux reaped a fine harvest from the pockets of the 
British officers, who spent vast sums of money amongst 
them. 

La Marechale Perignon and her family now arrived 
from Montech, with whom we resumed our intimacy, and 
daily escorted them on some delightful excursions, to a 
Jew's gardens and chateau, and other places in the neigh- 
bourhood. The king's box was given up for their accom- 
modation in the theatre, (which is an extremely fine 
piece of architecture) : it was magnificently fitted up 
with mirrors ; the drapery was of orange silk, fringed 
with gold bullion two inches long. The Bordelais are ex- 
quisite dancers, and get up their ballets in the first style. 



66 



GASCON Y. 



Here we saw two figurantes dance on each side of 
a gauze curtain ; and so exact were their dress and all 
their movements that the two looked like one female 
dancing before a mirror. This dance was afterwards 
got up and represented in England. A second ballet 
was amazingly well managed ; a group of men with 
short swords and broad blades, (similar to those 
anciently used by the Romans,) danced and engaged 
at the same instant, beating time with their feet, 
striking the measure while twisting and turning from 
one to the other, and going through the intricacies and 
windings of the dance with a precision truly astonish- 
ing; the clashing of the swords to the cadence of 
the music produced a martial clangour, like the sound 
of innumerable triangles in a musical band. This 
was the best executed dance I ever beheld, with the 
exception of, I may say, the noble Spanish bolero, 
for in that dance all that is wild and graceful is com- 
bined ; and the rattling of the castanets, marking the 
time, produces a thrilling sensation too deeply felt to 
be described. 

Before the British army was all embarked, the 
discontented French officers poured into Bordeaux in 
full uniform, and took lodgings for the express purpose 
of seeking personal quarrels and revenge, and they 
selected the cafes, the restaurateurs, and the theatre, 
to begin their brawls. At the latter place, one night, 
swords were drawn, and knock-down blows were given 
and taken. One French officer was'struck in the face 
by Lieut, the Hon. Francis Russell, and knocked out 



GASCON Y. 



67 



of the first tier of boxes into the pit. This officer had 
also knocked one or two French grenadiers down at the 
battle of Pampeluna with the colour-pole of the 7th 
fusileers, to which he belonged. An Englishman re- 
ceived a bloody nose, and called out the Frenchman the 
next morning. Lamps and mirrors were smashed, and 
black bottles and decanters flew in all directions in the 
lobby. The hubbub was at its height J all the refresh- 
ment tables and counters w T ere broken or overturned 
in the saloon ; oranges and sweetmeats were squeezed 
and crushed under foot ; and the finest Champagne, 
Burgundy, and Chateau Margeaux were streaming on 
the floor. This scene of confusion ended in various 
duels fought between the English and Germans and 
the French. 

The British officers, by an order from their own 
superiors, were now forbidden to enter the theatre, 
to prevent a further contest, as the French were 
daily flocking into the city, and these quarrels would 
at last have ended by a general battle. It is 
singular enough that many of the British officers 
purchased round hats, and groups of them, walking 
arm in arm with the utmost gravity, wore them with 
their scarlet uniforms in Bordeaux, so much disgusted 
and ashamed were they of their unsightly and ill- shaped 
military caps. Their disgust was quite natural, for, 
distorted by the alternate rain and sunshine, as well as 
by having served as pillows and night-caps, the caps 
had assumed the most monstrous and grotesque shapes, 
and many of the tattered oil-skins flirted about like a 



68 



GASCONY. 



bundle of rags upon their heads, so that the covering 
had a most unsightly appearance and excited peals of 
laughter and the oddest remarks from the witty little 
French boys and girls in the streets, who wondered 
whether these queer castors could possibly belong to or 
be the proper head-pieces to men who had fought in 
such sweeping and desperate battles. But what made 
the thing still more ridiculous was, these round hats 
worn in " self defence/' to avoid the sneers of the 
people, were construed by many of the Napoleonist 
officers into a mark of insult towards them ; they were 
considered as an allusion to their being themselves 
doomed so soon to cast their uniforms aside, and to 
wear round hats. 

At the end of June we marched for Pouillac, and 
while halting at a village, some ladies at a chateau 
invited us to breakfast. I fastened my borrowed horse, 
as I thought, securely to a tree out of sight, but during 
the repast one of the young ladies jumped up with 
horror at seeing a raw-boned animal on the lawn, 
adorned with a green velvet saddle, embroidered with 
silver, with only one rusty stirrup suspended from it by 
a piece of rope. There was no time for explanation ; I 
felt my face colour up, and being quite ashamed to own 
the animal, I took my leave at full speed, on the plea 
that I could no longer remain from my corps, and 
leaving the house I sent a soldier to say that the beast 
belonged to a suttler. The horse was of English breed, 
and had done so much work, and passed through so 
many hands, that it was quite knocked up and beyond 



GASCONY. 



69 



selling. It was lent to me by another officer, with its 
housings fitted up as described. 

At the end of this day's march, I and my friend 
were quartered on a very handsome chateau. Just as 1 
entered the grounds my bridle broke, and the provoking 
animal actually, for the first time, w 7 ent up the avenue 
at a rough trot, and as the green velvet saddle was 
made in the hussar fashion, I could not throw myself 
off. When opposite the house, it turned off the beaten 
path, and its hoofs were buried up to the fetlocks in a 
flower-bed, in the presence of two antiquated old maids 
who stood at the hall-door to receive us. Nothing could 
exceed the civility of these two females, but they were 
so excessively ill-favoured in point of appearance, and 
so like each other, that we were glad when the hour 
of repose arrived. They had sallow complexions, pale 
watery blue eyes, white eye-lashes, flaxen hair, thin 
lips, wide mouths, and yellow teeth; their stiff and 
starched figures were so flounced, that it was impossible 
to know positively w 7 hether they were well or ill made; 
while one of them held my hand with an iron grasp 
in her long tapering cold fingers, a thrill of the most 
painful sensation run through my veins. To get rid 
of their excessive civility, and in part payment for the 
excellent fare they had spread before us, with the 
utmost magnanimity we presented to their arms a little 
English terrier dog, which was not our own, having 
gone astray, and followed us to the house. The poor 
little animal had, however, as little relish for the 
spinsters as ourselves, and soon after we got to bed 



70 



GASCONY. 



it came crying to our door. In the morning this living 
present was packed in a hamper, and in this way we 
stole our over-night's present out of the house. The 
two pieces of flounced antiquity had just finished the 
labours of the toilette, and were descending the polished 
stairs, as we were quitting the place. This added speed 
to our footsteps, for in truth all our compliments were 
exhausted, and we feared to be cross-questioned about 
the dog. On our reaching the road, the little animal 
licked our hands, and scampered off in search of his 
real owner. 

At this chateau part of the three provisional regi- 
ments of militia had been quartered, but did not enter 
Bordeaux, some twenty-three miles up the river or 
more. The militias had volunteered to serve abroad 
towards the winding up of the war, but were too late, 
which does not at all derogate from their merit in so 
handsomely offering to take the field. The officers 
were reduced after this short service, with the same 
half-pay as those who were of the line, which was ex- 
tremely bountiful to them on the part of the government. 

On reaching the town of Pouillac, on the left bank 
of the river Garonne, which here resembles an arm of 
the sea, and is many miles in breadth, we embarked 
in boats to go on board the Queen Charlotte and the 
Dublin. As I was hastily dismounting from my iron- 
grey palfrey, I offered it a free gift to some of the 
French by-standers; but the poor beast cut such a 
doleful figure, that nobody would accept it, and they 
turned their heads away as if in fear of such a bargain 



GASCONY. 



71 



being palmed off upon them; or more probably they 
nourished some suspicions that I had come unfairly by 
it, its tout-ensemble being so thoroughly un-English. 
I could not divest myself of a smile, as my parting 
glance fell upon the worn-out animal, quietly pacing up 
the street by itself, the rein of the rotten bridle trailing 
in the dust, and the old rusty stirrup hanging by a cord 
from the left side of the hussar saddle, of faded green 
velvet, and its once gay but now tarnished silver em- 
broidery. 

This was the last of the light division. The sepa- 
ration now came. Though amongst the regiments 
which composed it there existed an unanimity which 
was almost without a parallel in war, yet there was a 
shade of difference between them, a something peculiar 
to each corps, distinguishing it from all the others ; 
which was the more remarkable as amongst them there 
was a sort of fraternal compact, and it has occurred 
that three brothers held commissions at the same time 
in the forty-third, fifty-second, and rifle corps. 

The forty-third were a gay set — the dandies of the 
army ; the great encouragers of dramatic performances, 
dinner parties, and balls, of which their head-quarters 
was the pivot. 

The fifty-second were highly gentlemanly men, of a 
steady aspect; they mixed little with other corps, but 
attended the theatricals of the forty-third with circum- 
spect good humour, and now and then relaxed, but 
were soon again the fifty-second. 

The rifle-corps were skirmishers in every sense of the 



72 



GASCONY. 



word, a sort of wild sportsmen, and up to every de- 
scription of fun and good humour; nought came amiss; 
the very trees responded to their merriment, and scraps 
of their sarcastic rhymes past current through all the 
camps and bivouacs. 

In this way the brothers of the three regiments 
met together, each being the very type of the corps to 
which he belonged. Amongst them are to be enu- 
merated the Napiers, the Maddens, the Booths, 
the Rowans, the Whichcotes, the Maynes, the 
Dobbs, the Patricksons, the Harvests, and others. 
And before we take our farewell, I may affirm, that, 
although these troops were bound together by an iron 
code of discipline, no Roman tribune could ever boast 
of more camp orators, nor was there any fraternity 
that ever lived in happier independence when off 
duty. 

Some of the officers of the light division were such 
young men, that it was not uncommon to see one of 
them of eighteen or nineteen years of age or younger, 
going along the road to seek for wood and water, or on 
some important mission, with the most unconscious 
gravity. 



CHAP. III. 



AT SEA. 

The rays of the sun shone brilliantly on the bright 
waters of the Garonne ; the greater portion of our 
corps were now rowed on board the Queen Charlotte,* 
commanded by Viscount Keith, Admiral of the Channel 

* Admiral Lord Exmouth having hoisted his flag on board the 
Queen Charlotte of one hundred and eight guns, left England, and 
on the 27th of August, 1816, with fifteen sail of British men-of-war, 
and four gun-boats, in conjunction with the Dutch Admiral, Baron 
Van Capellen, commanding six frigates, bombarded the fortress of 
Algiers, and compelled the Dey to give up his Christian slaves, and 
to cease his piratical career for a time. He also destroyed four 
Algerine frigates, five corvettes, and a number of gun and mortar- 
vessels, and also many buildings and store-houses by fire at Algiers. 

This was the great undermining of the power of the Algerines, 
who, to the shame and disgrace of Europe, had so long exercised 
their piratical sway under the guns of so many potent Christian 
sovereigns. 

The attack made on Algiers by the French a few years subsequently, 
in 1830, and the capture of that place gave the death-blow to the 
Dey's usurpation, and saved thousands of Christians perhaps from 
hopeless slavery. Before the Dey reached France, Charles the Tenth 
had ceased to reign after the three " glorious days," he having been 
deposed for issuing the ordinances for the suppression of the press 
and the curtailment of French freedom ; and Louis Philippe, Duke 
of Orleans, had ascended the throne in Charles's place, taking the 
title of King of the French. 

E 



74 



AT SEA. 



Fleet; the remainder went on board the Dublin. Lord 
Keith had a milch-cow on board, and made his own 
butter, which was floating in pretty little pats in 
bowls, and hung in the state cabin, which was 
well fitted up. This man-of-war, crammed 
with the red and blue jackets, represented a bee- 
hive. Its officers were exceedingly kind and atten- 
tive, and w r e messed together in the ward-room, and 
also dined by turns with the admiral. Some of us 
took post, in the gun-room, and as my mattress was 
opposite one of the stern-ports, one morning the ship 
for an instant backed sail, and into the port rushed the 
salt-water, sousing and wetting my nest, and soaking 
my sheets and blankets. 

Although I was rather sea-sick, I had sunk into a 
gentle nap; but now, without more ado, I started on 
my feet, and gasping for breath, with my mouth wide 
open, half drowned, and fancying, as the water flew 
over me, that I was at the bottom of the ocean. 

My companion in sea-sickness, who, by the bye, 
seldom lost his appetite, said to a young middy, who 
good-naturedly brought him down the deviled wing of 
a turkey, " Now, my dear boy, how could you think 
of coming to sea ? Pray tell me where your parents 
live?" " In Dublin," answered the open-hearted middy. 
" Ah !" responded the reclining soldier; " then I would 
never go to see them."— An expression which some- 
what startled him of the sea-faring life, who smilingly 
asked, " Why not?" " Why, because I never mean 
to go to sea any more. Now, for example, the master 



AT SEA. 



75 



of the fleet is thought a very clever man; notwithstand- 
ing his cleverness, here we have been for four long 
days, without being able to weather Cape Ushant." 
" But the wind is foul," said the highly-amused middy. 
" Well! well!" responded he of the land service; " and 
that now is the veiy thing I dislike. Believe me, that 
I would not be admiral of the channel fleet to-morrow, 
but would rather live upon vingt sous par jour.'" 

This last effusion from the sick man being finished, 
the middy laughed out-right, and ran off to tell the 
youngsters in the cock-pit, that a soldier-officer had 
said that he would not change places with the com- 
mander of a fleet. 

ENGLAND. 

After nine days' voyage, in the beginning of July, 
the Queen Charlotte dropped her ponderous anchor in 
Plymouth-Sound. The bay on three sides is skirted by 
highlands, and on looking towards Old Plymouth town, 
a great many fine objects crowd on the eye; to the left 
is the little town of Cawsand, situated at the water's 
edge, and above are the Maker heights, and their forts 
rising in the back ground; adjoining to this is the wood- 
covered hill of Mount Edgecumbe, its variegated 
foliage tinted with beautiful lights and shades, out of 
which peep the pinnacles of mock-ruined towers and 
temples, while from some of the fissures of the rock 
the trunks of the trees recline their stems and lateral 
branches, overshadowing the rocks as if to dip their 

e 2 



76 



ENGLAND. 



boughs into the briny element which foams at its 
base. 

Directly in front is the rocky and fortified island of 
St. Nicholas ; and a little further inland appear the 
rocks, from the summit of which slopes downwards the 
greensward of the Hoe and its landmarks; adjoining is 
the bastioned citadel on the same hill, overlooking the 
bay ; this hill screens the greater part of the old town 
of Plymouth, the quays of which jut into the water. 
On the right-hand side of the bay are shingled, ragged, 
and dangerous rocks, here and there scattered in the 
surf, and over these rocks rise the steep acclivities, the 
ascent of which is entangled with brushwood difficult 
to penetrate ; above all are the bare hills stretching out 
in bold headlands ; and beneath this promontory a so- 
litary lighter is seen lowering with a crane a shapeless 
block of granite of many tons weight for the contem- 
plated Herculean task of forming the Breakwater. # This 
barrier of sunken rocks is designed to extend for a mile 

* In 1825, Captain Sir John Phillimore, R.N., going to sea with 
his frigate, was kind enough to sail partly round the Breakwater to 
give me an opportunity of viewing the tremendous work to advantage. 
A short time before, during a storm, an impression had been made 
by the waves on its centre above water-mark, scattering its prodigious 
blocks of granite in every direction, which gave the wonderful work a 
truly desolate and ferocious aspect ; I was then rowed ashore in Sir 
John's boat. Some time afterwards, on a calm day, I bathed with other 
officers in the centre of the Breakwater, in a sort of bath formed amongst 
the interstices of the scattered granite. Some apertures were yawning 
wide and deep amongst the rugged rocks, which also in irregular 



ENGLAND. 



77 



across the entrance of the harbour, in order to break 
the mighty swell which rolls in towards Plymouth from 
the channel, to the great danger of shipping at anchor 
or even coming into port. 

The sparkling sun-beams now dance upon the waters of 
this spacious bay, in which the countless fishing-smacks, 
with their tar-bedaubed canvass, skim the surface, or 
ply coastwise, while in the offing the white sails of 
other ships or craft, as it were in specks on the line of 
the horizon, are making way from distant hemispheres. 
Constructed on a dangerous rock, twelve or fourteen 
miles from land, is the Eddystone lighthouse, to which 
pleasure-parties take excursions, and often come back 
more sea-sick than otherwise, vowing within themselves 
for the future to confine their joys and pastimes to their 
native hills. 

On every side flit the light and gaily painted men- 
of-war's gigs, which are swiftly pulled to and fro by 
sailors picked for the occasion ; the naval officers are 
seated astern in their characteristic blue uniforms, with 
gold epaulettes and gold-laced cocked hats, w r orn, to 
use the nautical phrase, " fore and aft," and their 
white hilted sabres, or the more handy dirk, suspended 
in a blue silken waist-belt. 

confusion were scattered on each side of the Breakwater, making it 
next to impossible for the most agile climber to reach the sea on 
either side of it, as some blocks of granite were only a few inches 
below the surface of the water, and others in irregular confusion, 
rearing their ragged heads a yard or two above it. 



78 



ENGLAND. 



Many bum-boats, the paint quite worn off them, 
with patched sails and spliced oars, came alongside 
sculled by women, who were the pictures of sound 
health and as brown as gipsies. These boats, or rather 
tubs, are stored with pipes, the weed of Virginia, pipe- 
clay for the marines, bread, butter, vegetables, and 
other fresh commodities, to gratify the appetite of the 
home-bound mariner. 

Viscount Keith and the officers of his majesty's ship 
Queen Charlotte dined with us at the Fountain Hotel, 
in Fore-street, Devonport, where we spent a carousing 
evening. Many little farcical incidents happened on 
landing ; amongst others was that of an officer who 
perambulated the streets with a beard of many days' 
growth, as if time had not been given him to use the 
razor before or since quitting the fine city of Bordeaux, 
and we agreed that this was being rather martial, 
considering the war was closed, and that there was no 
want of time or apparatus to make his face look a little 
smooth. 

An interchange of county militias had taken place 
between Great Britain and Ireland, the Irish militias 
coming to this country, and on the other hand those 
from England doing duty in Ireland. The soldiers 
from Spain were incorporated with the Cork and Devon 
militias at the guard mounting in front of the govern- 
ment-house ; the former were so tanned by a southern 
sun that they resembled Creoles, and here and there 
patches of dark faces in the line, according to the dif- 



ENGLAND. 



79 



ferent detached guards, were in brown contrast with 
those of the militia, and were conspicuous at a consi- 
derable distance. 

Although the militia had been for so long a period a 
nursery for the line, and had been so often drained by 
large drafts made from it into the regular army as 
volunteers, still this domestic force maintained a fine 
aspect, both on duty as well by exemplary and general 
good conduct in quarters ; the uniforms were beautifully 
clean and the martial music excellent. From these 
ranks the regulars could boast of having drawn some 
of their best soldiers ; there was not a forlorn hope, a 
storming or an escalade party, or any other desperate 
enterprize in this eventful war, in which men originally 
from the militia did not largely partake. 

The European struggle being ended, these militias 
were ordered to their several counties, there to be 
disbanded ; a small staff w r as, however, kept together, 
on which constitutional stem, in times of dangerous 
and sudden exigencies, a proper force can, without 
delay, be raised by order of the government, under 
their several colonels or lords-lieutenant of respective 
counties. 

Almost within a stone's throw of the lines of Devon- 
port, by which it is overlooked, is Stonehouse-bridge ; 
it is thrown over a creek, and was constructed at the 
cost of a private individual. The troops on duty, 
passing and repassing this bridge, were obliged to pay 
a halfpenny each, or make a circuity 6F a mile by the 
Naval Hospital, near the head of the creek, although 



80 



ENGLAND, 



the highway leading over the bridge was a direct line? 
and a necessary link between the citadel, old Plymouth 
town, and the entrenchments which enclose the go- 
vernment house, the dock-yard, and the town of De- 
vonport. There was a singular circumstance con- 
nected with this toll-bar. When a body of troops were 
coming from Stonehouse, and were within a few hun- 
dred yards of Devonport, they were necessitated to 
pay, or go by the head of the creek ; a debate took 
place as to whether the men would pay or make a cir- 
cuitous march. Upon these occasions the question was 
put to the vote, to ascertain whether the soldiers were 
unanimous or not — for a majority or a casting voice was 
not sufficient to carry the measure — and one or two 
dissentient votes obliged the rest of the detachment 
to go the round. In every instance, at the foot of 
this bridge, the soldiers were not unanimous, which, 
from the novelty of such an occurrence, is worthy of 
notice. Whether it was put to the vote before quitting 
their private parade, or at the point specified, came to 
one and the same thing, and more than once I have 
known not only an individual but a whole detachment 
respectfully decline paying in this way while employed 
on public duties, and declare that, whether they went 
the round or not, it was all in the day's work. Or- 
derlies with their books going to the government house 
for daily orders, musicians attending daily guard- 
mounting, and many other classes were under the 
necessity of paying this toll, otherwise, from the time 
at which they were marched from their private parades^ 



ENGLAND. 



81 



the military arrangements of one of the largest gar- 
risons in England would have been totally disorganized. 
This toll proved a heavy tax upon the orderly and well- 
disposed soldiers throughout the year ; for, however 
trifling the sum may appear to men with pockets better 
lined, still these little surcharges often deprived the 
soldier of his ball of pipe-clay, soap, and an extra 
whiff of tobacco. After this injudicious obstacle had 
existed several years, it was altered for the benefit of 
the soldier, and the better communication between the 
different parts of the garrison of Plymouth. 

One fine day, while strolling near the verge of the 
sea, on the green slope leading down to the govern- 
ment stores, I saw a male and female sculler seated in 
a bum-boat, about a hundred yards from the beach, 
basking in the sultry rays of the sun. Their arms were 
coiled round each other's necks, and they were billing 
and cooing like a pair of turtle-doves. The water was 
transparent, and its surface as resplendent as a looking- 
glass. Near the circular stairs, a landing place, there 
was also a gaily painted man-of-war's gig, with a party 
of sailors gambolling about in playful mood. The tars 
wore white canvass shoes without stockings, and ever 
and anon one of thern would hitch up the unbraced 
canvass trousers with one hand, while he turned a large 
quid w 7 ith the other. The elastic Guernsey frock fitted 
skin-tight upon their brawny arms and backs. Their 
tails were of great length and of considerable compass, 
hanging down their broad backs like a small hawser ; 
long cork-screw ringlets waved on either side of their 

e 3 



82 



ENGLAND^ 



sun-burnt cheeks, and their heads were surmounted 
by a polished gold-lettered black round hat, to denote 
to what ship they belonged. 

At this moment the ferryman and his female companion 
all of a sudden rose from the middle seat, and moved 
to take post at opposite ends of the boat ; but from 
their staggering motions it was evident that they were 
labouring under the stupifying effects of those potent 
liquors, which the commonalty too often swill to 
excess. The groggy pair having thus scrambled to 
either end of the boat, and apparently being excited to 
a more dignified mode than the ordinary style of 
" mutton-cove" caresses, they at once made an attempt 
to fly towards each other with extended arms, intending, 
no doubt, to lock together in hugging embrace ; but, 
unluckily, the woman forgot the seat in the middle of 
the boat, and the lubberly sculler at the same time 
lost his equilibrium, and fell back in the bottom of the 
boat, in the most ludicrous posture, and looking mighty 
wise ; the woman's knees coming in contact with the 
seat, she at once threw a half somerset over the star- 
board side of the boat into the water, and for a few 
moments sunk from view. Missing his wench, the 
sculler, after more than one fruitless attempt, at length 
righted, and regained his legs, but he was quite be- 
wildered on seeing at the same time four objects 
floating round the boat ; they consisted of his hat, 
which had fallen overboard, the woman's bonnet, and 
one of the oars that had slipped out of the boat pegs, 
and, moreover, of a large globular bundle, around which 



ENGLAND. 



83 



were coiled sundry nameless garments, of coarse texture, 
compassing that part of the female proportions which 
the goddess of beauty and the graces are represented 
as exposing to view for the benefit of the chisel, the 
pencil, and the optics of the curious literati. The 
latter was, in truth, the rotundity of the female, 
which was buoyant, for by an unaccountable entangle- 
ment of habiliments, her head and heels were under 
the surface of the water. The muzzy sculler rubbed 
his eyes, and amongst so many floating objects could 
not at first make up his mind which of the four he 
ought first to pick up, and, in point of fact, which 
was the real object of his search. His capacity, how- 
ever, had not altogether left him, for he mechanically 
grasped hold of an oar, no doubt with the laudable 
intention of affording succour to his unfortunate partner. 
He pushed out his oar to one object, and then to the 
other, and at last imagining that the buoyant bundle 
was the head instead of the tail of his last partner, he 
began to poke away at the globular protuberance of the 
woman, still the only part of her person which was 
above water-mark. But the moment he touched the 
bundle with his rod, down it bobbed like a floating 
ball, he calling out lustily, with husky voice, 66 take 
hold ! why don't you take hold !" 

So quickly had the woman tumbled overboard, and 
after the first splash was over, assumed a quiet position, 
presenting the floating bundle as already described, 
that the Jack-tars on the beach were not aware of what 
had occurred, until my voice and that of the drunken 



84 



ENGLAND* 



boat-man made known to them the mishap. But the 
instant they were made aware of the misfortune of a 
sinking frigate with its hull only above water, they 
bounded and scrambled into their boat, and with 
lightning strokes pulled towards the woman. The 
boat flew through the water with such velocity, that 
in a minute or two they had reached the place ; and 
half a dozen brawny arms were stretched forth with 
nervous grasp, the garments of the woman were laid 
hold of, and she was at once lifted out of the water, 
and replaced in her own boat. So short a space of 
time had elapsed before the poor woman was rescued 
from a watery grave, that, after cascading up some 
salt water, grog, and other contents of her stomach, 
she speedily recovered from the effects of her sub- 
mersion, and in a few minutes, though dripping at all 
parts, was charming well again, and restored to the 
loving hug of her partner, with whom she was again 
seated in the boat, closely embraced, apparently as 
happy as before she met with her capsize. 

The description of the above immersion may seem to 
savour somewhat of levity, or a want of compassion, a 
proper feeling towards the softer sex, and, undoubtedly, 
it would be liable to such a charge, had the woman's 
ablution lasted much longer. But the combination of 
ludicrous circumstances, and Cupid's torch being so 
quickly extinguished and all his flames put out, without 
any serious injury being inflicted, will, I trust, suffice 
for my exculpation. 

Taking up our quarters in the long room, technically 



ENGLAND. 



85 



called the Lancashire hut barracks, from the militia 
of that county having so long occupied them, I now 
obtained a short respite; and, soon after, the rapid 
wheels of the usual conveyance whirled me to the 
banks of the Thames, in the fair county of Middlesex. 
The crowned heads from the north of Europe and 
other illustrious princes and generals had departed, 
leaving in their wake the wreck of the great fetes in 
honour of their visit to this country. The most strange 
and unaccountable stories w r ere afloat of the jeopardy 
Prince Blucher had more than once been placed in by 
our fair countrywomen of inverted refinement ; from 
which it would appear that the kissing and making it 
up again in honour of Napoleon's captivity, lacked not 
on either side of the channel, and that the vieux 
moustaches were in no way formidable to those bright 
eyes which were then unaccustomed to such grisly 
sights. Indeed, it would appear as if the ladies in 
general had been taking advantage of circumstances 
and giving loose to Greenwich hill gambols, and that 
the sex, whether of France or England, liked best 
the boys who were rocked in a foreign cradle, so that 
the very Cossack himself, while leering at the contents 
of the street lamps, was lifted into astonishment at his 
own importance. 

I saw the last of the grand illuminations. It was 
strange enough, that, having arrived in London only 
the night before, and going to see the sham attack 
made on the American fleet got up in miniature for the 
occasion, cn the Serpentine river in Hyde Park> I 



86 



ENGLAND. 



buttoned an olive pelisse coat over the very uniform 
which I afterwards wore at New Orleans. 

This sham fighting did not savour of good taste, 
because at that time peace was anxiously looked for 
in that quarter of the globe ; and many of these scenes, 
acted during the delirium of the moment, fell to a 
great discount when the senses of Englishmen reco- 
vered their equilibrium, and they found that they did 
not possess Aladdin's lamp* 

In addition to which it may be remarked, that a 
sham fight is as unlike a real one as the two most 
opposite things in nature. In this instance the show 
was exceedingly mal-a-propos, and anything but pro- 
phetic ; for, although the wild bonnet rouge had been 
laid low, yet the broad brim retained its steadiness. 
These last remarks may uncork the bottle of eau de 
Cologne to those who travel with fixed principles, and 
only deign to cast a glance at certain pictures. 

A dash of the pen now whirls me four times to and 
from Plymouth to the metropolis. I am about to 
nestle upon two months leave of absence, when a large 
letter (official) comes to hand to prepare for embarka- 
tion. I am again at Plymouth, and once more about 
to proceed to a foreign land. 

Politicians have affirmed that, though possessed of 
the monopoly of the sea, England was then in a false 
position from her squandering riches over and above 
what she had to give; that, having overcome the 
enemy without, she had now to wrestle with a foe 
within; and that to repair internal resources after a 



ENGLAND. 



87 



long and desperate struggle, it required the master 
politician now to take his peaceable station, the martial 
hero resting upon his laurels. With respect to the 
ministerial and military powers, I must remark that, 
while the soldiers depend for their daily rations upon 
the general, the minister also depends for his means of 
action upon the people of this great commercial country ; 
but that, being a sort of civil magistrate, the latter 
holds the reins somewhat less slack than they can be 
held in the field of Mars. Both are, however, equally- 
honourable, but in all their bearings " wide as the poles 
asunder." 

Still we may say happy England ! happy in her ver- 
dant fields and hedge-rows, her gardens, pineries, and 
hot-houses rich with the clustering and luscious grape ; 
her splendid mansions and equipages ; her picturesque 
forests and parks ; her preserves stored with game, 
tame as the barn-door fowl ; and, though last, not 
least, her rustic cottages, filled with a brave and vigor- 
ous race ! Thrice happy land ! thy modern halls have 
never been thronged with the followers of the imperial 
and haughty foreigner. Thy sons have not been incor- 
porated in the legions of a foreign conqueror, and 
transplanted from their happy isle, and marched in 
heat and cold to swell the inordinate ambition of Napo- 
leon, whose colossal name alone will fill the page of 
chronicle to the annoyance of many nations. 

No ! modern history records this land as the great 
exemplar of conquest, and as the protectress of the 
world ; and in all time to come may its brave sons still 



88 



ENGLAND, 



avoid being entangled in the silken cords of effeminacy, 
and fling back with warlike hand any foe that may 
dare to pollute its beach with adventurous tread. 

May thy temples never be defaced nor thy pulpits 
turned into a rostrum for the distribution of the meats 
and the fruits of thy soil for the daily rations of the 
rude foreign soldier ; nor thy tombs, nor any of thy 
sanctuaries of the departed, be wrenched open by the 
plunderer, as the supposed hiding place of thy golden 
store, or of other precious spoil to fill the girdle of any 
adventurer. 

And may the shrubberies of England not be rent and 
uprooted, nor her trees felled by the military axe-men 
to add to the flare of camp fires, nor its lawns trampled 
under foot, nor its flower gardens despoiled, beaten 
down, and made the field of exercise, nor its private 
dwellings converted into places for the reception of 
strangers conversing; in unknown tongues. 

May her evergreens not be plucked by the rugged 
hand to adorn the casque of the conqueror, to celebrate 
the defeat and abject slavery of the sons of her soil ; 
or the conqueror pass through sacked towns and cities 
to the blast of the trumpet and other martial sounds, 
raising the cup to his lips in exultation, and quaffing it 
off to the last victory. 



CHAP. IV. 



THE EXPEDITION TO NEW ORLEANS. 



Having sojourned three months in England, our bat- 
talion, which was the first of the forty-third, was 
ordered to embark, commanded by Colonel Patrickson, 
C.B. The second battalion was stationed in the citadel, 
under Colonel Joseph Wells. We were to form a 
brigade with the seventh, or royal fusileers, who were 
already aboard ship for the same destination, the 
western world. Accordingly, on the 10th of October, 
1814, having congregated on the beach, we were 
crowded into ships' barges and launches, for the pur- 
pose of being put aboard the transport-ships the Earl 
Moira, the Woodman, and the Helen brig, lying for 
our reception in Plymouth-Sound. The temperature 
was chilly, and pendent black clouds darkened the 
atmosphere ; but although contrary gusts of winds 
burst forth and howled at a distance, foreboding the 
coming storm, yet the embarkation was persisted in. 
The sails were hoisted and the small craft put off, an 
undertaking of great danger, as the barges and launches 
were so jammed with soldiers, loaded with knapsacks 
and firelocks, as almost to impede the working and 
steering of the boats. The first mishap befel a com- 
pany in a lighter, which drifted upon the rocks amongst 



90 



THE EMBARKATION. 



the breakers under the hill on which the long-room 
barracks are situated. The surf broke over the decks 
of the little bark with terrific violence as she furiously 
bumped on the ragged rocks, with a probability of 
every soul perishing at noon-day within a few yards of 
the shore, and the troops were well nigh washed over- 
board before any assistance could be afforded, as they 
could not for some time be extricated from their perilous 
situation. 

The whole of the small craft at length got round St. 
Nicholas' Island, the wind nearly dead ahead, where 
we encountered the foaming billows majestically rolling 
inland, and tossing the boats up and down in a most 
furious manner, the surf bursting over the sides of the 
small craft with a loud crash, and the salt spray 
drenching us to the skin. After some hours' buffeting 
against the foaming element, we reached the Helen brig, 
the nearest vessel, but she was pitching and rolling to 
such an excess that the boats were nearly swamped, 
and it took two hours getting the soldiers up her slip- 
pery ladder, particularly those already described, who 
had been nearly sacrificed at the outset in the lighter, 
which had struck on the rocks, and were now so be- 
numbed with cold as hardly to be capable of using 
their limbs. When on board, every thing bore the 
most comfortless aspect ; the dead lights were in the 
stern windows, and a suffocating smell issued from the 
close and contracted cabin. Very few soldiers of the 
whole corps succeeded in getting on board their proper 
transports, and the rest of the corps were driven or 



THE EMBARKATION. 



91 



scattered at the mercy of the wind and the waves ; 
some boats were washed ashore at Cawsand, whilst 
others were forced to seek shelter at Plymouth, heartily 
sick of this tempestuous day's prelude of a coming 
voyage to the New World. 

For myself, the tossing and violent motion of the 
launches produced such violent sea-sickness, during 
the long and difficult operation of getting the men on 
board the Helen, that some naval officers volunteered 
to convey me again ashore in one of their smaller boats, 
to cast up my accounts in more comfortable quarters ; 
and even the naval officers, towards the close of this tem- 
pestuous day, were sea-sick, and could not keep upon 
their stomach the clotted cream and other good things 
of Devonshire. The following night and day I felt much 
indisposed with a dry and racking pain in my stomach, 
and after drinking quantities of tea I was at last fain 
to apply to Dr. Hair # for some medicine ; this was the 
first time I had passed through his hands, or that he 
had ever administered to my necessities in his profes- 
sional calling. How T ever, in this his first attempt, the 
dose proved a total failure, or rather the cramp had 
laid too strong a hold of my intestines to be removed 
by a common draught ; for, alas ! my guts felt like 
dried fiddle- strings, and at last I was seized with such 
violent paroxysms that I dropped down in a small store- 
room crammed with beer-barrels and empty bottles, 
and although rooms affording good accommodation 
were within a few yards of my place of refuge, it was 

* Now of the Royal Horse Guards Blue, 



92 



THE EMBARKATION. 



found impossible to move me. The empty bottles being 
therefore scraped into a corner, a mattress was placed 
under me while rolling about in the most excruciating 
agony, and for two days it was impossible to remove 
me, as I continued in a dangerous state. The whole 
of the first night Dr. Hair tried every remedy he could 
think of to reduce my torments to some degree of mo- 
deration ; he poured hot diluents down my throat, stuck 
his lancet into me, bringing away forty-eight ounces of 
blood at the first bleeding, and tried various other 
remedies too numerous to mention. At length I heard 
him say that I could not hold out much longer. The 
renowned Dr. Hair was resolved, however, that I 
should not depart this life easily, so without more ado 
he tore off my shirt, and calling out for a cauldron of 
hot water, and splitting a blanket in twain, he im- 
mersed it into the smoking cauldron, and having wrung 
it out he placed it on the soles of my feet and so up to 
my chin. This being repeated several times I fell into 
a slumber, and after some hours' repose awoke free 
from pain, but as yellow as saffron, and, without using 
a technical phrase, I had passed a gall-stone, and the 
deep yellow hue tinted my frame and countenance for 
some days. 

Dr. Hair pronounced me to be unfit to take a voyage 
across the Atlantic, the great probability being that, in 
the event of a second attack, I should sink under it, 
and my carcase would be thrown overboard, and be- 
come food for the fishes. I was, therefore, ordered to 
be left behind my dear comrades, some of whom went, 
for honour and glory, to meet more violent deaths, and 



THE EMBARKATION. 



93 



to be buried without coffins. Vive la Gloire! On my 
being landed, I was consigned to the care of the second 
battalion, in the citadel, though I properly belonged to 
the first. This was somewhat odd, for when I formerly 
belonged to the second I had joined the first, in Spain, 
or rather in rocky Portugal, and I shall never forget 
having offended a doctor at Salamanca. 

Perhaps I may have intruded my ailments on the 
reader at a greater length than is expedient for one so 
humble as myself, and walking as I do with so many 
men of aches and pains. But as the great majority of 
travellers bring themselves forward in a similar manner, 
how can one forget self ; and, in honest truth, it seems 
to be the most straight-forward way of doing the thing 
effectually. For whether we puff ourselves or get others 
to do the like for us, comes, in the sequel, to one and 
the same thing. As for doctors I always speak of them 
with some caution, knowing that there is a time to 
come when mortality cannot escape their prescriptions 
any more than they, at the last gasp, who cry to a fellow 
doctor, " Bleed me no more — drench me no more — and 
let me die in peace ; the system is exhausted." 

The celebrated Dr. Kitchener, with whom I was in- 
timately acquainted, assured me that no conscientious 
man could be a physician, and, owing to those feelings, 
he had given up the profession, wishing to live and 
die an honest man ; and, upon coming to a property, 
he accordingly pitched the doctor of physic and the 
apothecary into the pestle and mortar. But, now that 
the physician and the apothecary are united in one 



94 



THE EMBARKATION. 



person, it may explode the old practice of puffing one 
another, according to Dr. Kitchener's asseverations. 

Dr. Kitchener, indeed, was a real character in every 
sense of the word, both from his singularity and ac- 
complishments. William Kitchener, M.D. is well en- 
titled to a place in any man's book, and the outlines of 
his tall person both in dress and movement were well 
worthy the pencil of an artist. I have often partaken 
of his ragouts and excellent fare ; his house was fitted 
up with every comfort and convenience for the use of 
the infirm or the indolent, and his dining-room could 
boast of more than one easy chair to draw round the 
bright blaze of his cheerful fire-side of a winter even- 
ing. His wines were of much variety, and of the 
choicest qualities, both in respect to age and good 
keeping. He drank little himself, but his guests suited 
their own palates in quantity as well as quality. 
Among other things he was a star-gazer, and I cannot 
forget his keeping me one fine star-light night looking 
through his telescope, when I wished for the more 
comfortable chimney-corner, for my finger-ends and my 
nose waxed cold ; but this was his hobby at that time, 
and there was no getting away ; I was fain, therefore, 
to make a virtue of necessity, and bear the chilly exa- 
mination of Mars, Venus, and the milky-way, with 
philosophical patience. The setherial arch expanded in 
the immensity of space canopied us over with a vast 
blue concave, studded with brilliant and twinkling 
gems ; but it was lost upon me, and I longed for the 
chimney-corner, for my philosophical genius was as yet 



THE EMBARKATION. 



95 



latent, and I had no turn whatever for objects of astro- 
nomical enquiry. Besides which, the doctor's music in 
his back parlour was much more acceptable to me. 
His piano possessed two rows of keys, and other 
gingling accompaniments, sounding, when the pedals 
were touched by the foot, like tambourine, triangle, and 
a description of trumpet. The doctor did not possess 
what may be termed a fine voice, but rather an acquired 
one, but it was of a good bass tone, and extremely 
agreeable. His selection of songs and music was in 
excellent taste, and he struck the keys of this instrument 
with great power and rapidity of finger ; he shook his 
head and shoulders, and sang and played with much 
apparent satisfaction and glee, the more particularly 
when singing Dibdin's sea songs. Towards myself he 
was very familiar in his conversation, talking on all 
subjects without reserve; and were I to retail all he told 
me of the drug and the lancet, half the faculty would be 
up in arms against me. His pleasant description of the 
ladies' mixtures was not the least droll article of his 
medicinal budget. 

The worthy doctor contended that cleaning the teeth 
of a morning was pernicious ; that the proper time for 
brushing them was at night, to cleanse their interstices 
from the particles of food lodged in certain cavities, or 
in unsound teeth, after the usual meals. The operation 
of brushing being performed, he maintained that, during 
sleep, nature covered them with a sort of coat for their 
preservation during the day. Into this disquisition I 
will not enter, (doctors differ,) as it is not my province 



96 



THE EMBARKATION. 



to go further into the subject than merely to state liis 
opinion. 

This celebrated character always wore blue or green 
spectacles, and possessed only one eye. I once met 
him in a ramble in Middlesex, with a large bamboo 
cane sloped over his left shoulder, and the ferule end 
stuck through the knuckle of a ham which rested upon 
his back, while in the other hand he held a scroll of 
music of his own composition, which he was merrily 
distributing to those friends whom he might chance to 
meet as he trudged along the highway; of course I 
came in for a share of his favours. This eccentricity 
was acted to the life, and charmingly carried on to his 
own infinite amusement. At this time he was in the 
enjoyment of an ample income, and the circumstance 
occurred years before he wrote his book of advice for 
the benefit of the dining gentry, who expect a well 
covered mahogany every day of their lives. 

Like a young colt I have somewhat gambolled and 
strayed away from my subject, but this is no matter, 
and gives variety to the scene. Dr. Kitchener's asser- 
tions do not hold good in regard to the red-coated 
doctors ; as for them there is no fee, and accordingly it 
was remarkable how sparing they were of drugs and 
draughts, and the comparatively few doses of medicine 
which were given to a whole regiment, in comparison 
with what would be administered to a like number of 
civilians, under the care of what are called private prac- 
titioners. This, therefore, is a good opportunity of 
thanking Dr. Hair, who, putting aside his professional 



AT SEA. 



97 



routine, and tucking up his shirt-sleeves, went to work 
like a man. 

Although Dr. Hair had promulgated his veto that 
I should be left behind, my friend iEolus, the god of 
winds, bellowed forth, " No, I ordain otherwise !" and 
malgre angry masters of vessels, and their whistling 
for a fair wind, he blew in their teeth, and rolled his 
angry waves into the Sound, tossing big ships, little 
ships, transports, and men-of-war up and down like 
cockle-shells. 

At the end of a fortnight, the 26th of October, my 
second battalion servant, while lighting my fire early 
in the morning, told me, thinking I was to stop be- 
hind, that the wind was at last fair, that the fleet 
was preparing to sail, and that blue peter was hoisted 
at the mast-heads. At this intelligence I jumped out 
of bed, bustled about, got my war-kit together, and 
made for the beach as fast as my tottering legs would 
carry me. There I only found one boat; the terms 
were rather extravagant, but there was no redress ; 
stepping into it, therefore, and pushing off, I soon 
descried the Helen brig ; her stern loaded with greens 
and cabbages, a sure criterion by which to find a troop- 
ship, and after being hauled up her sides, was sincerely 
hailed by my companions, who had now gained their 
sea-legs. The anchor was already hoisted, the sails 
were unfurled, and with a fair breeze the vessels 
ploughed the deep, and scudded before the wind, con- 
voyed by the Vengeur of seventy-four guns. Break- 
fast was on the table, and ship-biscuit. " Ship-biscuit ! 

F 



98 



AT SEA. 



the first day of leaving harbour," I exclaimed ; " what ! 
not a loaf of bread on board V 9 which was indeed too true. 
What a caterer! and my stomach had hardly regained 
sufficient tone to endure the well-known smell of the 
biscuit-bag. 

Tw t o officers belonging to the second battalion had 
stolen away without leave, and came aboard our two- 
masted brig to share in the further toils of " flood and 
field ;" and we now mustered no fewer than eleven indi- 
viduals, including two medical officers, in the small 
cabin, w T hich contained two narrow berths on each side, 
and also two dark holes, with doorways, bearing the 
title of state-cabins, from whence issued, for the benefit 
of our nasal faculties, an effluvium which was a mixture 
of the most offensive and sickening compounds. 

Five persons being still without berths, they were 
accommodated at night with two cots, slung under the 
sky-light; the three others lay on the floor; conse- 
quently there was hardly an inch unoccupied of this 
den, which measured eight feet in breadth and six in 
length. Fortunately a more good-tempered set of per- 
sons could not have been congregated together ; one of 
them, whose height was more than six feet, could not 
take up his berth on the middle plank of the cabin 
until the fire was extinguished of a night, for when 
stretched out at full length he was forced to cram his 
feet under the grate. 

Although each of us had subscribed twenty-two 
pounds for articles of sea-stock, such as pigs, poultry, 
sheep, hams, porter, wine, and food for the live stock, 



AT SEA. 



99 



yet, owing to bad management, the trickery of the 
hucksters, and the contracted stowage of the vessel, 
every thing was mixed up together in such a disorderly 
way, that we scarcely enjoyed a well- served meal during 
our long voyage. The moist sugar became damp, and 
found its way into the butter-tub ; the salt water trickled 
into the biscuit and flour barrels ; corks flew from the 
porter-bottles, and the vin de Bordeaux, which had been 
brought from France, fermented and turned as sour as 
verjuice; the hay for the sheep was soaked with the 
rain, impregnated by salt-water, and rotting in the 
jolly-boat, where our pigs and sheep were stowed 
away ; the latter, from exposure, soon became in such a 
sickly condition, that we were obliged to kill and eat 
them, to prevent their dying a natural death. Amongst 
other pleasant things, it was suspected that the brig 
had a hole in her side, for as she tossed to and fro, the 
soldiers on watch were constantly called to stand to the 
pumps ; but with all these accumulated drawbacks, w T e 
were as happy as any set of people could be under 
similar circumstances. 

Staff-doctor Ryan and myself amused ourselves by 
playing chess ; but, as if our patience was to be put to 
the rack in every possible shape, one day, when the 
blast whistled through the rigging and the close-reefed 
topsails, the vessel gave a sudden lurch, and before I 
could reach the hen-coop, I had the inexpressible satis- 
faction, (if so it may be called,) of seeing my set of 
chess-men slide overboard into the foaming deep. It 
was in vain that I hung over the gunwale to look for 

f 2 



100 



AT SEA. 



them, the bubble in the frothing vortex had swallowed 
them up, — they were gone, irretrievably gone. 

Such a loss was not to be endured without putting 
our ingenuity to the rack how to supply the deficiency, 
and within a fortnight we shaped out a fresh set of 
chess-men from pasteboard, which were painted to re- 
present knights of old and men-at-arms on one opposing 
side, and the scymitar and turbaned heads of the 
crescent on the other; these figures, being stuck up in 
wooden stands, were flanked by dignified viziers and 
embattled castles. 

The chess-men were no sooner completed than the 
staff-doctor Ryan and myself again recommenced our 
rivalry, and w T ere so equally matched, that, should he 
lose two or three games in succession, he w r ould pace 
the deck for the rest of the day in an abstracted mood, 
and as every trifling circumstance or change of counte- 
nance is noticed at sea, the officers would banter him; 
but when the victor, he would feign the same moody 
manner, as if unsuccessful, to deceive these plagues. 
Often while ruminating on the loss of a game he would 
endeavour to button the lower part of his tartan jacket, 
and when he succeeded in closing it, looked cheerful, 
and his plagues said, while encircling him, (i Ah ! we 
see you have been the conqueror to day!" " How?" 
" Why, you have buttoned your jacket, and no longer 
swelling with vexation." 

W ith these chess-men we played ninety-five games 
during the voyage : these and other pastimes were re- 
sorted to, which beguiled the tedious days on the 



AT SEA. 



101 



Atlantic ocean. The frequent changes of weather from 
fair to foul, and from foul to fair, at sea, form part 
of the wonders of a nautical life. In the evening the 
sky encircles the mariner, with a transparent canopy 
tinged by the brightest colours, and the inflamed and 
crimsoned day-lamp of heaven sinks into the mighty 
deep, whose transparent waters shine like polished 
steel, or w T ith the smoothness of the brightest mirror ; 
all is hushed, the sails hang loosely, or flap at intervals 
in the gentle evening breeze ; the ship lies like a log 
on the briny element, and the bubbling waters at her 
bow is the only indication that she floats with the cur- 
rent. The sailors amuse themselves by dancing or play- 
ing various games. The passenger forgets his longings 
for the promised land, and lounges on the deck inhaling 
the cool and refreshing air, which, with gentle murmurs, 
flirts at intervals, by fanning the drooping pendant. At 
midnight the unwilling mariner retires to his confined 
berth, impressed with the soft tranquillity of the scene, 
and sinks into sweet slumbers, from which, perhaps, 
he suddenly awakes, amid the storm, with palpitating 
heart, and involuntarily seizes hold of the sides of his 
berth to save himself from being flung from his nest on 
to the cabin floor ; a violent motion agitates the bark 
every plank is strained, the vessel cracks with appalling 
noises as if about to be shivered or split in twain, and 
the trampling and rustling of footsteps over his head 
leads to fearful conclusions ; the vessel rolls from side 
to side, she rises, and then spins downwards with ter- 
rific rapidity into the foaming abyss, as if engulfed? 



102 



AT SEA. 



and swallowed up in the settling or gurgling of the 
waters ; she again plunges, the wind howls, all the 
sails are close reefed, the frail bark is running under 
bare poles before the wind, and hurrying through the 
angry deep with strange velocity. 

After some weeks sailing we reached the latitudes of 
the trade-winds, which continued light and baffling for 
six days ; the commodore of the Vengeur hoisted sig- 
nals for the masters of transports to go on board, to ask 
their opinions on the subject. The atmosphere was now 
warm and genial, and the huge monsters of the deep 
were seen spouting up the water afar off like cascades, 
and the flying fishes frequently dropped on the decks of 
our vessel ; the largest I saw was about two-thirds the 
size of a herring, their wings are of a texture repre- 
senting the finest gauze : these fishes fly rapidly above 
the surface of the water for twenty or thirty yards and 
sometimes more ; one of them fell on the deck of the 
Helen, but the moment their wings become dry, they 
drop helplessly into the water. 

The day we crossed the equator, or tropical line, it was 
intimated to us that it was a usual custom to present a 
certain number of gallons of spirits to the sailors, which 
was readily acquiesced in, to avoid going through the 
disagreeable ordeal of an introduction to Neptune. I 
don't know how this accomplished exhibition is prac- 
tised in larger ships, therefore I can only describe the 
ceremony as it took place on board our two-masted 
brig. A boat was placed on the deck half filled with 
bilge-water, on the sharp edge of which sat a sailor. 



AT SEA. 



103 



which must have been very far from an easy position • 
he was first lathered with a tar-brush, and then shaved 
with a ragged iron rusty hoop, and from his riggling 
about seemed to feel intense pain ; but during the 
operation he was from time to time cheered up, by being 
told that as soon as the operation was completed he 
should see Neptune. But just before the deity of the 
ocean was supposed to come on board, the poor wretch 
was covered over the head and shoulders with a sack, 
when the god appeared on deck, in green, with a hor- 
rible mask resembling some imaginary sea-monster, 
with sea-weeds dangling from every part of his figure, 
and the deity having bellowed forth certain expressions, 
the sailor was then pushed violently backwards from the 
edge of the boat over head and ears into the bilge 
water, and while struggling to extricate himself out of 
the sack, which he at last effected with considerable 
difficulty, and quite exhausted, as black as a tinker, 
while gasping for breath, and well-nigh suffocated, and 
reeling from side to side, so soon as he was able to 
unclose an eye, behold ! Neptune stood before him, 
when he was drenched by the bystanders with buckets 
of salt water, and unmercifully belaboured with swabs. 
The whole affair was brutal in the extreme, and we all 
turned away quite disgusted at the ferocious process. 

A few days after this occurrence, while sitting round 
the rollers of the cabin table just after dinner, we heard 
a bustling of feet on the deck, and the cry of " a man 
overboard ! " The vessel was scudding along under a 
gentle breeze, but in three minutes the soldier was left 



104 AT SEA. 

some hundred yards in her wake ; fortunately he was an 
excellent swimmer, and succeeded in taking off his 
grey great coat in the water, and kept himself afloat 
until a boat was lowered and rowed to his assistance, 
and got him safely on board little the worse for his 
ducking. One night a soldier disappeared from the 
vessel, and was never afterwards heard of, and it was 
supposed that he fell out of the chains during the 
night* 

Amongst other circumstances a soldier-shoemaker n of 
literary attainments, was in the habit of writing a let- 
ter for a penny, or a cut of tobacco of equal value, to 
the different friends or relatives of soldiers ; and for the 
more ready despatch of business, the writer kept a few 
uniform copies ready written and folded for all occa- 
sions, excepting the heading, a space being left blank 
to answer for the christian names of the male or female 
gender, as the case might be. 

It was truly amusing^ when he was so commis- 
sioned, for a bystander to observe the anxious eye of 
the w T ould-be dictator, who was always commanded to 
be gone from the elbow of the supposed compositor 
acting under the dictation which might have been given 
him beforehand, who in place of using his ink-horn, 
now filled to the brim with gunwowder and water or 
any other sable mixture at hand, would quietly smoke 
his pipe or mend an old shoe, at the same moment a 
peculiar happy sneer stealing across a naturally expres- 
sive face. And although more than once it required 
considerable dexterity to deceive the untutored car- 



AT SEA. 



105 



respondents in a closely-packed vessel, yet the shoe- 
maker usually contrived to do so. And although the 
greater portion of the men in the vessel might hold 
epistolary correspondence written alike word for word 
ready for delivery by the first home-bound vessel, yet this 
shoemaker kept up the deception by affixing his thumb- 
nail on chewed biscuit, which, when dry, secured the 
contents from the eye of curiosity, and answered in 
lieu of wafers. 

There was little chance of the holders of these copies, 
taken from the same sheet, comparing notes, as in the 
first place they could not read, nor was it likely they 
would attempt to open their family affairs, supposed to 
be in black and white, to those less gifted than the 
shoemaker, who by the means described was the sole 
repository of half the secrets of those on board, and 
not one word of all that had been confided to his 
keeping had he ever attempted to put to paper. He 
was an orator as w r ell as a writer, for while reading 
the supposed compositions, he would repeat or interlard 
whole sentences for the edification of his auditor, which 
only existed in his own fancy. 

All this we were told and likewise knew it to be the 
fact ; and I heard him once say to a man, while mea- 
suring a fine figure from head to foot, accompanying 
his words with a look of the most utter scorn, " Go 
along, you fool ! What's the girl's name ? that's all I 
want to know ; do you think I don't know better what 
to say to her than you do ? " 

This athletic shoemaker once declared, while falling 

f 3 



106 



AT SEA. 



in for an attack without his knapsack, he was so used 
to it that it felt like part and parcel of himself, and 
without its additional weight he could not walk steadily. 
And this man had fired away, in battle, ball-cartridge 
enough to load an ass. 

At the expiration of six weeks' sailing, and without 
once seeing, during our voyage, the outlines of any 
land, save in imagination from the peculiar formation 
of clouds on the horizontal line, we at length came 
in sight of Martinico and Dominico, two West-India 
islands. The day was charming, and our spirits were 
highly exhilarated at the view of these mountainous 
islands ; the deep blue waters of the ocean were only 
agreeably agitated, the crests of the rolling waves were 
garnished with white and resplendent foam, and the 
silvery refraction from the sun danced on the curls of 
the sportive waves with flirting cheerfulness. 

What with land and water combined, the scene, 
with half-closed eyes, resembled a moving panorama, 
the vessel moving along in a parallel course to the 
land, at the rate of eight knots the hour, one way, 
while the rocks in one grand mass seemed to recede in 
an opposite direction, and in the like agreeable delusion 
I have often indulged, the vessel skimming along the 
surface of the water. 

Time hangs so heavy at sea that since we had left 
England an age seemed to have elapsed, and the lofty 
blue mountains towering out of the waters acting on 
the fancy like awakening from a dream. 

The Vengeur was about eight miles a -head, and 



AT SEA. 



107 



having just veered round, for the purpose of passing; 
between the islands of Martinico and Dominico in this 
position, her broadside facing our bows, with her sails 
spread out, she resembled a large goose in the midst 
of a flock of goslings, the white sails of the rest of the 
convoy nestling close under her outstretched wings* 
But the poor Helen was totally thrown out and had no 
claim to be counted as one of the flock, for she was 
all behind, her bows pummelling and tossing up the 
briny waters as though she was performing a prodigy 
in sailing. 

At this time a large white sail was descried far 
astern, apparently carried along in a sheet of continu- 
ous foam, and in this way sweeping along the waters 
parallel to our wake, as if in a vast hurry, for never did 
I see one sail gain on another with such velocity. A 
constant white foam shrouded and disguised the out- 
lines of this vessel from the vision, the water rising 
with a prodigious impetus, and falling like a thousand 
cascades, and in this way gaining on us rapidly ; and 
when within a mile or two astern we told the master 
that this strange sail looked ominous. But with too 
much self-confidence he took upon himself to pro- 
nounce, with true nautical and most infallible assurance, 
that she w T as only some small coaster. 

The master often expressed deep surprise at the 
unusual slow sailing of the Helen while crossing the 
Atlantic ; and it was still suspected that she had a hole 
in her bottom, or some of her timbers damaged, from 
her constantly making so much water, and the men 



108 



AT SEiU 



being obliged to stand so often to the pumps ; and 
these suspicions were too soon verified. 

The strange sail had now gained on us considerably^ 
and the master had been advised to be on his guards 
but without effect ; while I for one vehemently endea- 
voured to impress on him that precautionary measures 
was only being on the right side ; he thought otherwise, 
and would not give ear to the proffered advice to send 
below for some of the small arms, which had been 
stowed away, to be placed in the hands of the unarmed 
soldiers. Whether the master disliked the trouble, or 
really thought there was no danger to be apprehended, 
he still obstinately persisted that preparations of a hos- 
tile nature were useless. But when the vessel, crowd- 
ing all sail, was within five or six hundred yards of our 
stern, the master took the glass from his eye, and 
turning pale, said, in a hurried and frightened manner, 
u I now fear she is an enemy and going to run aboard 
us." This was not the first time in my life that I had 
seen proper precautions jeered at, and the very people 
who did so the very first to lose their intellects at the 
critical moment when all energies are most wanted ; and 
the schooner was nearly alongside, when now came the 
odious confusion — officers running down to the cabin to 
seize their swords, and a few soldiers scrambling upon 
deck with ten or a dozen uncleaned muskets, all that 
could be laid hold of, and without having time to get 
at their ammunition ; a pretty joke forsooth : his Ma- 
jesty's troops, muffled up in grey great coats, reduced 
perhaps to fight with their fists against cutlas, boarding 



AT SEA. 



109 



pike, and pistol, for the decks of this vessel were 
crowded with a group of piratical independent-looking 
fellows, of all sorts of complexions, while carelessly 
lounging in every possible posture, some leaned over 
the gunwale, whilst others stood erect with arms folded 
on her decks, or akimbo, These men wore red and 
striped shirts ; many of their sleeves tucked above the 
elbows of their brawny arms ; their heads cased in 
various coloured handkerchiefs or hairy caps, and other 
outlandish gear ; hardly one of these piratical-looking 
fellows wore a jacket, owing to the genial warmth of 
the atmosphere. At first they hailed us in French 
through a hoarse speaking-trumpet, a language we 
pretended not to understand ; they then questioned us 
in English. But finding that we were only a transports 
they took no further notice, and ploughed through the 
water to reconnoitre the body of the convoy, She 
appeared to be pierced, or her false ports were painted 
to represent her as carrying twelve or fourteen guns ? 
and we kept our eyes on her, expecting every instant 
that she intended to haul off and throw long shots at us, 
which undoubtedly would have been the case had we 
been a prize worth having. Her commander could 
hardly have pictured to his imagination the utter con- 
fusion on board of us. To be sure two or three of us 
were armed, and no doubt all ready to fight— but it 
must have been with fists, Whenever I think of this 
circumstance, I am in a rage, for I never witnessed so 
much listless stupidity in my whole life ; some running 
up the companion ladders to see what was the matter, 



110 



AT SEA. 



and others running down to search for bayonets or some 
offensive weapons, so that one party obstructed the 
other ; and although no attempt was made on us, it is 
very unsatisfactory to reflect that most probably not 
being worth having was the only reason that we were 
not made a prize of, and the Helen with her living 
cargo scuttled and sent to the bottom for soundings 
before her time. 

In the afternoon we passed between the islands of 
Martinico and Dorninico, the former being remarkable 
as the birth-place of the captivating and amiable 
Josephine, the first wife of, and subsequently Napoleon's 
empress. 

The coast of Dorninico is also celebrated for the vic- 
tory gained near that island by Admiral Rodney over 
the Compte de Grasse, in June 1787. The youthful 
Prince William Henry, Duke of Clarence, was present 
at this sea-fight as an inferior officer in the royal navy, 
(and now seated on the throne of bis royal ancestors as 
King William the Fourth of Great Britain and Ireland,) 
and who proved himself the after royal patron of the 
immortal Nelson, which is enough to grace his Majesty, 
whether as a king or a man, beyond all manner of 
doubt, to the lasting and deep gratitude of his subjects. 
Captain Sir Charles Douglas, at Rodney's victory, 
won (to posterity) great honors as master of the fleet, 
as being one of the first to propose breaking the (then) 
enemies' line of battle, a bold manoeuvre, which was 
also afterwards executed by Nelson at the Nile and 
Trafalgar. 



AT SEA. 



11! 



A tableau soon afterwards appeared in England in 
commemoration of the victory off Dominico. This 
tableau represented the Princess Royal with a diadem 
on her brow, in the character of Britannia standing on 
a rock, clasping a scroll in one hand, with the palm 
and the olive branch in the other. A miniature of 
George the Third and the Prince of Wales is suspended 
on her left breast. The Duchess of Rutland is repre- 
sented recumbent as Hibernia ; and near the Princess 
Royal sits the Duchess of Gordon as Fame, sounding 
a trumpet in honour of those who exerted themselves in 
their country's defence. The great explosion and blow- 
ing up of the Spanish gun-boats is also represented on 
this tableau as it took place at the base of the rock of 
Gibraltar at the siege of that fortress. And at the foot 
of the Princess Royal the Lion of England is repre- 
sented en couchant. 

Diminico and Marti nico are about the centre of the 
Antilles, a string of beautiful islands which stretch 
from the Spanish main in the form of a crescent towards 
St. Domingo, which islands in a manner divide the 
mighty waters of the Atlantic ocean from the more cir- 
cumscribed limits of the Caribbean Sea. When within 
the Caribbean Sea the spectacle was truly charming ; 
the two islands rising out of the polished and dark 
blue waters, and the outlines of these colossal moun- 
tains tinted with every light and shade, and their 
lofty pinnacles capped with the clear atmosphere of 
these regions. The dark blue sea w r as only gently 
agitated, the polished waves, crested with foam like 



112 



AT SEA. 



plumes of ostrich feathers; and afar off was seen a 
British man-of-war, her chequered broadside looking 
like a " chess-board." A warm breeze passed our 
faces, and the motion of the vessel was so gentle, that 
we felt as if floating on the waters of perpetual sun- 
shine. 

Once within the Caribbean Sea, what a vast asso- 
ciation of thoughts crowd the fancy, and the images of 
past generations are pictured in the mind's eye. Here 
we see in imagination the aboriginal red Indians, and 
their naked bodies, and faces like masks appearing 
above the slender sides of their paddling canoes ; or a 
light, flaring up on the distant rocks, as a beacon, to 
show Christopher Columbus the first signs of anima- 
tion in the new world. And, lastly, the great mariner 
bound in clanking chains, the envious and vindictive 
reward of his discoveries. And as the eye skims the 
maps of these latitudes, the mind soars aloft, and at 
once taking flight from this grand centre of the new 
world to every point of the compass ; but smooth as 
the surface of maps and charts are to the domesticated 
eye, and however easily the scope of the compass 
measures and strides across seas, islands, and conti- 
nents in half a minute ; yet he who points the finger 
and at a glance skips from sea to sea, and from island 
to continent, ought not to forget how much more weary 
it is to the persons who are chalked out for the more 
trying and practical part of travels and voyages to act 
as under craftrnen, whose slow progress too frequently 
ill accords with the mere imaginary eagle swoop or 



AT SEA. 



113 



glance of their employers, who in their way of mea- 
surement circumnavigate the globe in a few minutes, 
as I do at present with an agile pen. 

How strange are the migrations of man : only a few 
centuries before, the mighty continent and islands which 
enclose this sea round about, were inhabited by a totally 
distinct race, now well nigh swept from the rocks, 
woods, and undergrowth of these Caribbean islands, or 
the whole of the new world, and a new race of beings 
from Europe and Africa amalgamated instead of the 
aborigines. 

In these latitudes of a mixed progeny, what is called 
the mask of the human visage, are of many shades 
conspicuous, which have figured and as suddenly va- 
nished in the masquerade drama of these regions. 
Here is the black mask, the mask of the copper- 
coloured savage, the mask of the Creole^ the mask of 
perspiration and of mosquito stings, and the mask of 
the West-Indian patient transplanted from Europe in 
the last stage of mortality. 

Then, again, here is the woolly scalp, the fair-haired 
scalp, and the dark shaggy scalp of the native savage ; 
and many other scalps of as many tints, shades, and 
hues as the colour of skins, which case the form divine ; 
and here also shines in the firmament, like frosted silver, 
the polished mask of the moon, whose quicksilver rays 
mark with silvery streaks the dark blue and translucent 
waters of these treacherous and piratical seas. 

Here, then, the shadow and the dignified port of the 
haughty Spaniard > who smiles not, passes the imagi- 



114 



AT SEA. 



nation in review ; they rise from their rude graves and 
stand erect before us, even in their head-pieces and 
coats of mail; their weapons still reeking with the 
blood of the Moors, and the purple stream drawn from 
the bowels of the naked Indians, and their after- 
ferocious blood-hounds, hunting down those human 
victims in cold calculation for the lust of gold. 

The discoveries in the new world lighted the torch 
of adventure, and the Spaniards left the court of Fer- 
dinand and Isabella, and the baths of the Moorish 
Alhambra. The vega of Granada and the flowery 
gardens on the banks of the far-famed w 7 aters of the 
clear Guadalquiver of fair Andalusia, carrying with 
them across the mighty waters the Christian cross, for 
their own particular salvation. 

And when we bethink ourselves how these despe- 
radoes expanded themselves and progeny over the vast 
plains and Pampas of Peru, the mountains of the 
Andes, and Mexico, and the numerous islands of the 
West Indies ; and, afterwards, riding on the saddled 
backs of the Indian natives, called Caballitos, in the 
caverns of the gold mines, and, in like manner, 
entangling wild animals in the irresistible coils of the 
lasso ; and subsequently all the after-scrambling of the 
other European nations for a share in the spoil is 
remarkable : and history lacks such an extermination 
of aborigines as that of the new world, both north 
and south, east and west. And, last of all, the mo- 
ther country, Old Spain, was over-run for six years 
by the legions of Napoleon, who, like a second Caesar^ 



AT SEA. 



115 



devastated its plains, and his marshals took away from 
them the precious spoils of the new world, even to the 
sword of Pizarro. 

The Caribbean Isles, whose mountains rise out of 
the sea, looking so fair, like the beauteous pictures 
of nature, the most inviting ; and these clear skies and 
heavenly breezes are too often only allurements fraught 
with the most direful consequences ; for these bright and 
translucent waters contain the voracious shark— the 
devourer of man ; and the paths and thickets of these 
fairy-looking isles are beset with noxious reptiles, 
venomous coiling snakes, and every other devilment 
for the plague of man; and it is in these windw r ard 
and leeward isles that fell disease destroys the vital 
spark, ending in ghostly looks, horrible fevers, and 
raving deliriums, where the fell leveller of all men — 
Death, strangles poor mortality. 

In these latitudes all at once the serenity of the 
heavens is changed, the tropical luminary is hid behind, 
the rolling black clouds, the thunder roars, the ele- 
ments are of liquid fire, and the rains descend in a 
sheet of water, the mighty earthquake shakes the 
foundations of the islands, and the mountains open 
into yawning chasms; churches and houses are blown 
down by the whirlwind, or are swallowed up by the 
earthquake ; blacks, whites, Creoles, and pic-a-ninnies, 
are engulphed in the bowels of the earth, buried alive, 
or are swept away by the^ mighty torrents, roaring 
down the sides of the mountain-ravines or water- 
courses ; whole plantations are destroyed, swept off the 



116 



AT SEA. 



face of nature ; trees are rent in twain, and torn up by 
the roots and whisked into the air, with men, women, 
and children ; the hurricane rages with unabated fury, 
and the concatenation of awful noises are as if the day 
of retribution for all sinners was come to sum up their 
offences. 

The solitary vessel is lifted up and down by the 
waves of the sea, and tossed hither and thither ; the 
waves, racing, howling, and tumbling one over the 
other, and pounding the sides of the bark, which is 
going up and down in a hurry, over and under the 
mad waves. The frail bark is no longer manageable, 
and is either dashed upon the rocks, or bumping its 
bottom out amongst the hideous roar of the outrageous 
breakers, or probably is scuttled by the electric fluid 
piercing her timbers, and driving her to the bottom of 
the sea. Now, whether the sails are shivered to shreds, 
or the ship and crew are doomed to be drowned by a 
water-spout, or struck by a thunder-bolt, signifies little 
when the catastrophe comes, attended in such a whirl- 
wind. 

And those that dread the cholera in England, let 
them just stand at the gang-way of a ship, when the 
elements are discomposed by a hurricane, and the sea 
is a rage. If they do not wish themselves in England 
again, with all the chances of the cholera, I am no 
prophet ! 

But the hurricane is exhaused and dies a natural 
death, and nature smiles as before, and the distant 
lands and seas resume their pristine beauties, and the 



AT SEA. 



117 



vertical sun glances merrily upon the purple waters of 
these uncertain seas. 

All these accompaniments may be calculated upon 
in the Caribbean seas ; therefore when we partake of 
West-Indian sweets at home, let us think of her sours 
abroad. 

But let me gather together my wandering thoughts, 
that I am still on board the Helen. A gentle breeze 
wafted us through the purple waters of the Caribbean 
sea ; and in this manner for days w T e scudded before 
the wind, passed within sight of the Island of St. 
Domingo, or Hispaniola, without forgetting the great 
massacre committed by the blacks a few years before, 
upon the heads of the French, their former masters. 
Thence coasting along the shores of the Island of 
Jamaica ; and, although we had heard much about 
curries, sangaree, spices, and aromatic plants, still 
nothing of the sort at this time came within our grasp, 
or within the scent of our olfactory sensations. The 
temperature was now exceedingly hot, and certain 
hits were thrown out, one to the other, in a jocular 
w r ay, as table-talk, of incidental malaria, the black 
vomit, and the last remains of mortality being con- 
signed ashore to the claws of the land-crabs. And, 
by the way, it would be worse than inattention, on the 
part of the voyager, did he fail to replenish his lite- 
rary and philanthropic store, while passing these 
latitudes, the hot-bed of slavery, without remembering 
the name of William Wilberforce, (so long the ho- 
nourable member for Yorkshire,) the strenuous advo- 



118 



AT SEA. 



cate for the emancipation of hisr more sable brethren, 
Afric's victims of slavery, consigned to the whip of 
the capricious and ruthless overseer. And let us also 
breathe an inward response to the manes of those 
white men who have perished in the cause of huma- 
nity on and near the coast of Guinea. 

In the middle of December, one night, w ? e stood off 
Port Royal, with the hope of landing at that place 
the following morning ; but no, the morrow only 
showed the sails still bent before the wind; the wea- 
ther was now so hot that we threw off all our clothing, 
and paced the deck in our shirt sleeves and duck trou- 
sers, without stockings or neckcloths. The wind was 
still propitious, and gentle gales carried us past Ja- 
maica and Nigril Bay ; the sky was serene, but we 
longed to cast anchor, but continued our course five 
hundred miles along the shores of the Island of Cuba, 
and at last bade farewell to Cape Antonio, thus making 
about five thousand miles, without taking down canvass, 
but there was no cessation of sailing. 

After entering the Gulf of Mexico, one fine day, 
we saw the back of a huge whale above the surface 
of the water, about one hundred and fifty yards a-head, 
or rather on the larboard bow of the creaking vessel, 
which slowly rose and fell on the long swell of the 
translucent waters. To describe the bulk and the 
monstrous broad dark back of this spermaceti whale, 
which rose a very considerable height above the sur- 
face of the water, I will not attempt to do, from a 
fear that it might be supposed that my eye magnified 



AT SEA. 



119 



its dimensions, and I can only say, at first sight, 
it looked like a vessel turned bottom upwards, and 
in this way rising slowly above the surface of the 
water. Many others now in existence saw it as well as 
myself. And an officer, who was not a little proud of 
a well-cleaned rifle, bounded down the companion- 
ladder into the cabin, re-appeared on the deck, and 
taking aim at this mighty whale, — " twang went the 
rifle;" whether the bail rebounded from its back, or 
whether he missed it altogether I know not, but I do 
know that the splash from the ball falling into the 
water, some way beyond the whale, was visible to us 
all. The leviathan of the deep then raised and ex- 
panded its broad fins to their full extent, and the huge 
broad back of the monster slowly sank into the un« 
fathomed depths of its briny element. The counte- 
nance of the shooter portrayed keen chagrin, no 
doubt, at the bare idea of missing a whale. The 
group of silent and smiling spectators casting signi- 
ficant looks at each other, at once splitting into twos 
and threes, and politely turning away their heads, 
leaned over the gunwales of the vessel to give way to 
their shaking sides and most exceeding mirth, as the 
tears of merriment w r ere forced from their eyes, which 
sprinkled and were mixed in the long swell of the 
ocean's waters. Twelve days after passing Port Royal, 
we were in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. The 
atmosphere was piercing cold, and it was necessary to 
cloak and to stamp our feet on the decks, to keep our- 
selves warm ; the blast was now howling, and the frail 



120 



AT SEA. 



barks rolling and dashing through the foaming billows. 
The bad stock of provisions were almost exhausted, 
but enough of plums had been retained to make a 
plum-pudding on Christmas day. In all climes and in 
all places, we never failed to do honour to this day 
of devotion and feasting. The staff-doctor, Ryan, 
suffered much from an internal complaint, causing a 
swelling of the belly, which was externally evident 
from the large size of it at times, and this disease 
eventually carried him off. 

The worthy doctor was much esteemed amongst us, 
possessing most kind, gentlemanly manners, and acted 
as a sort of umpire withal ; he held under lock and key 
a dozen of wine, for the use of the public weal, in case 
of sickness ; and I will affirm that these twelve bottles 
of port caused him more pain and anxiety than is rea- 
dily explained. When our stock of wine had been 
long exhausted these twelve bottles of wine were the 
eternal theme of daily conversation as soon as the 
dinner-cloth was removed ; and it was an exquisite 
study to observe his conscience struggling against good 
nature, as we exclaimed, as with one voice, Doctor ! 
Doctor ! we are all sick, feel our pulse. 

The following morning a stiff breeze blew, and the 
sea looked as if it was literally boiling, for a steam 
floated on the surface of the waves, such as I had 
never before witnessed. 

In a few days we had traversed the Gulf of Mexico. 

The master of the Helen was a civil well-behaved 
north-countryman, and hearing we were badly off, 



AT SEA. 



121 



brought to light a fine ham, and a large brown pan of 
potatoes, which he presented to us ; and a very accep- 
table present it was, as we had been reduced to salt 
junk for some days, and our stock of vegetables had 
been long exhausted. It will be needless to add that, 
without loss of time or any useless preliminaries, we 
set to work to demolish this offering. The Anglo- 
Saxon or the more modern Anglo-Norman has been 
accused as the exclusive lover of the more substantial 
good things of this sublunary sphere ; but from all the 
experience which has come within my optic scope, this 
gastronomic gift seems to be so equally poised between 
the respective champions of the rose, the shamrock, 
and the thistle, as to amalgamate their masticating 
propensities into a most decided neck-and-neck dead 
heat 

Ship -board is the place of all others for arguments, 
and for finding out the dispositions of people so often 
put to the trial, and for ever jostling one another for 
want of space, or the more active amusements on 
shore; and I have often joined in and enjoyed much 
mirth and laughter at some of the vehement and feudal- 
like arguments and discussions between the Caledonian 
and Hibernian companions of u voyage and travel:" 
and as the respective champions of either country were 
equal in point of numbers, nothing could equal the 
droll and far-fetched arguments on both sides, for the 
ascendancy of clan, province, or country. 

When the weather was moderate, these wraneles 
generally began as the various individuals stowed them- 

G 



122 



AT SEA. 



selves away ; and from their berths or queer places of 
rest, heads here and there popped up and down as the 
debates went on ; one raised the night-cap from hin- 
dering the sight of a right or left eye, the doors of the 
two holes or state cabins were hastily opened for the 
ensconced persons to get a word in. 

The highlanders accused the lowlanders of being 
neutrals, and worse than common Englishmen ; the 
lowlanders retorted on the highlanders, calling them 

the bare-a d cattle stealers from the mountains; 

the Hibernians protested that the Scots were renegades 
from the green isle, and vice versa; the Caledonians 
swearing that they were no way connected with the Mi- 
lesians who were nothing more than pirates from the 
coast of Spain, ro some tribe of Esquimaux from the fro- 
zen regions, which had been thrown into the bogs of 
Ireland by some convulsion of the elements, or tossed 
across the Atlantic ocean before Columbus discovered 
America. The Hibernian vociferating from berth, chair, 
and table, that the Scotch were the refuse of the Goths 
or Vandals, or more likely a few rank red-haired Norwe- 
gian fishermen, who had lost their own shores in the 
dark, and were cast away on the shore of Caledonia ; 
and that these dunderheaded boors, crossed by the more 
pure Milesian blood, had now reached some degree of 
civilization, being taught at Sunday-schools to read and 
write by St. Patrick, or by some other of the Irish 
and enlightened saints. Every legend, fable, or his- 
torical record was ripped up before and after the 
Norman conquest, The battle of Bannockburn was 



AT SEA. 



123 



fought o'er and o'er, and King Robert Bruce eulogised; 
and also the more modern battle of Dunbar, won by 
Oliver Cromwell, was talked of ; and last, if not least, 
the days of William and Mary, when the Dutch guards 
peaceably whiffed their fumes of tobacco in the purlieus 
of Westminster-hall, while the English foot-guards went 
into country quarters. 

But, after all, there was no need of these disputes, 
for the ancient European aristocracy, whether of Anglo- 
Saxon, Norman, or of German mixture, have so rooted 
and united themselves with the aborigines of England, 
Ireland, and Scotland, that these black-bottle or horn- 
tot carousals, and the red-hot Rob Roy-like wrangles, 
of whence sprung the primeval or aboriginal stock of 
these islands, might as well be obsolete or out of date, 
save to the raking up of the mist of Time, or to fill up the 
gap of the romance of history. For it is certain that 
the cavalier of the dress shoe and silk stocking sim- 
pers, smiles, and yawns at the semi-barbarous glowing 
recital of the once redoubtable e< claymore," or of the 
more common Donnybrook-fair way of feeling for 
heads with the sprig of shillalah. 

Thus talked the sons from the respective banks of 
the Thames, the Boyne, and the Tweed ; the latter 
espousing their beloved country at a distance, with all 
the vehemence and zeal, and protecting the honour of 
their trenchers, as though they had been the every- 
day dining guests at the now forsaken palace of Holy- 
rood. Let me reflect that Scotland did truly give 
kings to England. 

g 2 



124 



COAST OF LOUISIANA. 



And, as the sagacious historians have it one from 
another, (historians differ, so do philosophers,) that 
Senhor Riggio was murdered in the presence of Mary 
Queen of Scots, when that queen was enceinte by her 
royal spouse, the English Lord Darnley, who was soon 
afterwards blown up in the Kirk-of-field by the then 
Earl of Bothwell ; but not before Mary, the former 
queen of France, had given birth to James, who, 
when he had attained the age of manhood, espoused a 
princess of Denmark, by whom he begat Baby Charles, 
as he was styled. Well, then, at the demise of James, 
king of Great Britain, by right of royal blood, the 
first Charles ascending the vacant throne, espousing 
Henrietta, the daughter of Henry the Fourth of France, 
—Vive Henri Quatre — by whom he begat a second 
Charles, and a prince called James the Second t and 
without diving into further history, or other royal par- 
ticulars, it is granted that Scotland, Denmark, and 
France, did verily give kings, queens, princes, and 
princesses to England. 

And, in troth, as a goodly and loyal citizen of the 
old world, I no longer nourish vulgar national pre- 
judices; but, like a true philanthropist, do greet all 
countries in my brotherly love ; at least so long as my 
sovereign continues at peace and amity with surrounding 
nations, their ambassadors and charge d'affaires. 

COAST OF LOUISIANA. 

The 31st of December the American coast was 
announced from the mast-head ; the atmosphere was 



COAST OF LOUISIANA. 



125 



tinged with greyish clouds, forming a canopy, which 
cast a peculiar light over the calm expanse of the sea, 
which shone in perspective like the brightest quick- 
silver, and the tufted tops of the dark fir-trees were the 
first objects we distinguished as it were rising just above 
the surface of the bright water on the horizontal line. 

As the vessel neared these trees, their appearance still 
deceived the naked eye, resembling dark clouds floating 
on the water, and were well worthy the pencil of the 
artist. By degrees the outlines of these trees showed 
themselves more distinctly, and with the assistance of 
the telescope the straight stems of the longer fir-trees 
were seen to emerge by degrees, and looked as if 
growing out of the water. And as I have stated before, 
that in Europe officers were sent to look out for wood 
and water, but now both seemed united, and hour after 
hour this enormous forest became more distinct, and at 
length we obtained a full view of the vast and con- 
tinuous flats of Louisiana, which forms the delta or left 
bank of the mouth or mouths of the mighty Mississippi 
riven 

In the afternoon the Helen, drawing little water, lay 
to within the bank or bar, which extends right across 
the mouth of this river. The weather was still serene, 
and hardly a breath of air disturbed the tranquillity of 
the waters, which still presented a smooth surface, and 
where the current of the river united with the Gulph of 
Mexico, there was a bubbling ripple, about a foot in 
breadth, extending in a straight line as far as the eye 
could scan ; and immediately on one side of this singu- 



126 



COAST OF LOUISIANA. 



lar ripple the water was of a fine sea-green, and oo 
that of the river it was of a light sand, or rather tinged 
of a clay colour. We lay-to for some hours, looking 
out for the British fleet from the Chesapeak. 

The Helen brig, of one hundred and sixty tons, 
moved slowly round like a duck upon a mill-pond, and 
was the only vessel I saw within the bar of the Missis- 
sippi, as she drew comparatively little water when 
classed with the other transports. 

The last day of December was drawing to a close, 
and at twilight not a vestige of land was to be seen 
save the cypress and the pine-trees growing out of the 
swamps which verged the left bank of the river, the 
banks on both sides of this river were not perceptible 
to us owing to its width, and may be termed artificial, 
and they abut farther into the Gulf of Mexico year after 
year, which are formed by the condensed trunks of trees 
that float down the river becoming fixtures, as they are 
closely wedged together, like rafts, the apertures or 
interstices of these trunks being filled up with a com- 
position of reeds, slime, roots of trees, and mud, which 
when united, in time, forms a sort of foot-hold for man 
thereon to construct a log-house, who acts as pilot to 
vessels navigating up the Mississippi* 

The wonderful progress of this prodigious flood from 
many rivers which runs through the wilds of America, 
bringing down in its overwhelming torrents, at one fell 
swoop, whole tracts of forest-trees, both root and 
branch, which are undermined or melted away from its 
banks as well as the Missouri and other rivers. 



COAST OF LOUISIANA. 



127 



Some of these ponderous trees, as they are whirled 
round and round in the eddies of currents, often stick 
at the bottom of the deep Mississippi, their enormous 
limbs or branches bristling above or below the surface 
of its turbid waters, like the skeleton of an abattis, 
which renders its navigation both difficult and dange- 
rous, as these branches frequently stave in and make 
holes in the bottoms of vessels that arfe propelled by 
the wind, its stream likewise running at the rate of four 
miles the hour. 

Calculating, in the revolutions of time, how many 
carcasses of the cultivators of the sugar-cane, the cot- 
ton-tree, the tobacco-plant, or the rice-crop, have been 
doomed, before the expiration of the natural life of 
man, to float down this river, either above or below its 
surface, would be enormous. 

The endemics of these vast regions of swamps, which 
are subject to the additional heat of a tropical sun, 
strongly reminds me of the rotten fevers and agues in 
August, September, October, and November, imbibed 
amongst the dykes of Walcheren and adjacent islands 
in Europe, where Great Britain lost so many soldiers 
in 1809, within a short distance of her own shores. 

It will be needless to observe that the countries bor-- 
dering the Mississippi, or " La Belle Riviere/' would 
afford subjects enough for the school or the students of 
anatomy all over the universe, with the benefit of two- 
thirds of the year favourable for their practice, and the 
additional supply of subjects with little cost. 



128 



COAST OF LOUISIANA. 



At the month of the river Mississippi desolation 
reigns around, nor was there within the scope of our 
vista any signs of animation, not even a bird, nor any 
busy thing, (save ourselves) : as the evening closed, de- 
scription expires on the face of these waters, and the 
mantle of a cloudy evening encircling the smooth sea- 
green and the vast expanse of turbid water of this 
river. 

On such a watery waste it may not be amiss to do 
my best to relieve giant monotony with a more homely 
and welcome recital for half an hour to drive away dull 
care, and if any other situation can be more appropriate 
for such a relief than this influx of waters, I am much 
out of my reckoning. 

On board the Helen, I take upon myself the more 
especially to select three officers, because when the 
toils of war or the absence of wounds permitted it, we 
were always in the situation of messmates, with an 
unanimity of resolve and good fellowship not excelled ; 
and ten years' service was pretty well to try its unity of 
purpose. We had all put on the scarlet coat or jacket, 
at from fourteen to sixteen years old, and all had 
received a liberal education, coming out of the scho- 
lastic shell before our time* 

My first chum was a Marlowite, and told many 
stories of the Royal Military College most entertaining, 
and its correct professors, of serious aspect and glove 
of doe-skin white as the lily. 

The second studied under a doctor of divinity in 



COAST OF LOUISIANA. 



129 



Devonshire ; was not always victorious at combats, but 
a good drubbing did not deter his trying the same 
victor again. 

The third was intended for a doctor of theology, but 
somehow or other a spoke was thrust into the wheel of 
divinity, and found him in a red jacket, with white 
facings, at fifteen, figuring at the battle of Vimiera, the 
youngest of three brothers in that field. He would 
relax into the most joyful laughter at his own stories, 
which were so good as to make an apology to Ches- 
terfield quite unnecessary. But his great delight was 
to describe, while at Westminster, his first sufferings 
as a fag, and all the vile and unjust torments inflicted 
upon him, enough to make a galley-slave turn pale ; 
and when he rose to the high estate of task-master, 
how amply he repaid his fags with compound interest 
for all he had endured, declaring how he would thrash 
one fag of a cold winter's morning, if the tea-kettle was 
not boiling to a moment, or make the back of another 
echo as from the bowels of a cavern, if the toast was not 
well browned, although the fag had hardly fire enough 
to bake a wafer. 

But the recital given with the most glee was about a 
fowling-piece used in common upon the hind-quarters 
of a grunting pig snuffing for dross in Tothill-fields. 

Whenever there was a fresh supply of powder, this 
rusty fowling-piece would change hands, and the above 
pig was searched for, and a discharge of small shot 
propelled into its hams to try the range of the gun. 
At first the huge porker, so tickled up behind, would 

g 3 



130 



COAST OF LOUISIANA. 



give a grunt, waggle its tail, run a few yards, and begin 
to snuff about as before ; but at length, from long prac- 
tice, its hinder extremities became more callous, and 
almost to be shot-proof, which obliged the juvenile 
marksmen to shorten the range to produce even a 
shake of the tail, or even a solitary grunt, so intent was 
the animal, like the rest of its species, on the more 
interesting process of enlarging its own belly and fat- 
tening its carcass, no doubt for such a knife as a man 
carries who was wont to swear visitors at Highgate. 

And if the schoolmaster be really abroad, the ques- 
tion naturally arises, who of scholastic lore is most 
likely to attain the head of the poll to seize the # # 
w hich induces me to give my school- 
master a fair start on the tapis of this refined age. 



CHAP. VI. 



GORDON-HOUSE. 

Gordon-House is situated on a gentle rise north-north- 
east of Kentish-town, a mile from a fine green knoll called 
Parliament-hill, and about the same distance from the 
foot of Highgate-hill ; and the stone marks this esta- 
blishment for young gentlemen to be four miles from 
St. Giles's pound. # 

When first I went to this academy, the edifice was 
composed of a dingy brick, the wings abutting to the 
front from either end, the old fashioned window-frames 
were fringed by a deep red brick so much in vogue at 
the time of its construction. 

There was a gravelled play-ground in front of the 
house, which was skirted by open palings on three 
sides, and shadowed by trees. 

Once while away for the summer holidays, I was not 
a little astonished on my return, while with downcast 
eyes and heavy heart, to find that the old carcass had 
vanished, or rather that the greater portion of it was 
cased within the shell of a new and more lofty exterior 

* Gordon-House Academy is now called School ; no doubt the 
word academy has been expunged for some very wise reason within 
the last two or three years ; and over and above there is a stone hand 
on the wall of the school-room, the fore-finger pointing to the west. 



132 



MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



edifice of more modern workmanship, and that all this 
prodigious labour had been executed within a few weeks* 

The interior rooms were remodelled, squared, and 
shaped, as if by invisible hands, from week to week • 
the long school-room behind this house was the only 
part of the premises untouched, and continued in its 
original state. My dormitory was now changed to the 
southern attic or wing of the edifice, which was lighted 
with a swinging bull's eye window; the plaster was 
hardly dry on the scarified naked walls, but this could 
not be helped, and all fared alike. 

My first chum continued my bed-fellow for a long 
time ; poor youth, he went as a midshipman into the royal 
navy, and met a watery grave. With him I had a long 
battle ; the origin of the quarrel was his having snatch- 
ed a sixpenny whip out of my hand, with the sudden 
thought of chastising a pointer dog. The thong coiled 
round its tail, the handle leaving my chum's hand as 
rapidly as it had done mine, and off flew the howling 
pointer, its flap ears thrown back, its tail betwixt its 
legs, and the handle of the whip trailing on the ground. 
Need I say that the whip was seen no more. This 
affair I took in dudgeon, and flying into a violent pas- 
sion, my reproaches were only met with a cold smile. 
But as usual, whether amongst boys with or without 
whiskers, and all through life on such occasions, friends, 
kind officious friends, stepped in, and by their insinua- 
tions added fuel to the fire, offered their assistance as 
backers and bottle-holders, and it was agreed to fight it 
out a V Anglais the following morning: before the ringing 



MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



133 



of the first bell our night-caps were doffed, the shirt- 
sleeve tucked up, and the braces tied round the loins, 
and in our stocking feet we set-to. 

The contest was long and weary; my adversary 
fought with great placidity, and being two years older 
than myself, was taller and had a longer reach, and 
throughout the battle stood on the defensive, which 
obliged me round after round to rush to the close, when 
I was too often met by a facer ; but when I did get in, 
I pitched it into his dough. 

My face was soon as red as a carrot ; his rivalled a 
well washed turnip, and I am fain to confess that 
this encounter, when the second bell rang to descend to 
prayers, had lasted quite long enough, and I was not 
sorry for this imperative announcement, my adversary 
leaving a bump on my forehead the size of a bantam's 
egg. What his particular sensations were I will not 
take upon myself to define, as an imperturbable 
silence ever after sealed his lips. 

He fought at the head, I at the victualling-office ; he 
fought as he looked, and looked as he fought; always 
serene: he was a queer lad; seldom joined in any 
game or any quarrel, and I have seen him for a whole 
afternoon together leaning his back against the railing ; 
his heels close together, and the legs thrown to the 
front as props to the rest of the figure ; his hands in 
his breeches pockets, and the head almost sinking upon 
the chest, thinking I suppose of nothing at all. 

We parted chum-ship, and there was no further talk 
after this drawn battle of a second encounter, 



134 



MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI* 



This establishment counted over and above one hun- 
dred boys, large and small ; not all from the county of 
Middlesex, coming as they did from distant parts of the 
globe ; such as tawny boys from the east, and Creoles 
and black boys from the west. 

At this time Bonaparte's invasion was much talked of, 
and I wished he would come, hoping it would break up 
the school, myself being any thing but a bookworm or 
devoted to letters. Bony was designated a little Corsican 
tyrant by old women, and by some men ; and this tyrant, 
as he was called, being expected in England, people 
were greatly frightened, considering his insignificance, 
and mothers winked at all their little boys and girls 
learning French, in anticipation I suppose of " necessity ; y 
moreover we were all led to believe that John Bull was 
one of the most redoubtable animals in the universe, 
not only being fed upon clover renowned and meadow 
grass, or upon Lincolnshire oil-cake ; but his interior 
carcass also stuffed with immaculate provincial paper, 
its horns gilded, and its wonderful tail a perfect talisman 
for statesmen, by only touching which was to lead to 
riches, honours, and lasting renown. 

One of the French ushers was a refugee ; he took 
snuff to excess, powdered and pomatumed his crown 
pretty considerably ; wore a spencer down to his hip- 
bones, carried a pink silk umbrella under his arm, and 
in cold weather shoved either hand into the ample 
spencer-cuffs, to answer the loss of the more comforta- 
ble muff. At certain hours of the day monitors called 
out in a doleful tone as the Muezins might from the 



MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



135 



mosque of St. Sophia at Constantinople, or from the 
minarets of Alexandria and Grand Cairo, to remind the 
faithful followers of Mahomet of their daily prayers and 
the koran. 

Quesque a la premiere, la second, and so on up to the 
cinquieme marque, when some unlucky one would open 
his jacket to show a piece of wood, shaped like an un- 
painted baton, which was suspended round his throat 
by a piece of strong rope. This French enunciation kept 
us eternally on the qui-vive, and it was funny to see the 
boys playing at marbles, while another decorated as de- 
scribed would skulk behind a tree, watching like a cat 
after, not for a mouse, but for an English victim for 
speaking his own vernacular tongue. The decorated 
calling out vous avez parte Anglais — "je:" and placing 
the distinguished collar upon one who was fain to turn 
spy, to endeavour to get rid of a thing which trenched 
so wofully upon his weekly allowance, and often 
placed him in debt to boot, and too often preventing the 
unlucky boy from offering his small change to the 
shrine of Mrs. B , whose antique wicker-work con- 
tained rotten apples, pears, bull's eyes, with other stale 

commodities. Mrs. B possessed the privilege of 

the sole entree within bounds, and there she squatted 
for hours on the ground, her heels drawn back to her 
seat of honour, and her whole person screwed up into 
the smallest possible compass ; a drab cloak, the worse 
for wear, was coiled round her shoulders and lower ex- 
tremities, the invisible feet and arms were also ensconced 
in the folds of said cloak, save ever and anon a withered 



136 



MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



arm was thrust from its oylet hole to thumb and finger 
the pence ; there, time almost out of mind, she was a 
fixture to the same spot, the type of patience, snuffing 
up the clouds of dust kicked up from the game of " fly 
the garter her venerable corbo bonnet was of no par- 
ticular shape, possessing a leaf in front, from the shade 
of which peeped out the usual characteristic beaks of 
nose and chin, the old woman's attributes ; the soiled 
ribands of her bonnet lay drooping at sixes and sevens ; 
and withal she sold wafer cakes called parliament, both 
white and brown. 

One day Sir Francis Burdett walked through the 
play-ground to solicit the suffrage of the schoolmaster : 
Sir F. was most enthusiastically cheered, and he po- 
litely uncovered to the boisterous youngsters. He was 
then a tall, slim, gentlemanly-looking man, possessing 
a keen and searching aspect. A day or two afterwards 
Mr. M . came upon the same errand ; was cheered by 
a few, but confoundedly hissed by the majority on this 
occasion. And here I got my grey, or pepper-and-salt 
jacket torn up the back to the very collar by an 
illiberal ; and although not much of a tailor, I did not 
strike for the want of a needle and thread, but at once 
set to work, made three puncturations on either side of 
the rend, and with a piece of cord with which I used 
to spin my top tied the divided jacket together; fori 
dare not make known what had occurred until the rend 
was better mended by some good-natured thimble, for 
fear my back, unprotected by a cyphering-book, might 
suffer for my early interference or political effervescence. 



MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



137 



But the grand ceremony of all was the neck and 
face-washing once a week, and the hair-combing of the 
croppies, the hair being cut very short for the health 
of the boys. But to return to the painful operation of 
hair, or more properly speaking poll-combing, by a 
tall woman of sedate milk-and-water aspect, who, 
clapping the palm of her hand on the scalp, and the 
long fingers hanging over the face, when she began to 
scrape away with the fangs of a stout horn comb, and 
in this way scarifying the head, and ever and anon 
entangling the ear within its horny mazes, to the no 
small pain and discomfiture of the sufferer, the tears all 
the while rolling down his cheeks. 

Never shall I forget the combing night : the most 
heroic boys quailed, not of civilized combing, it was 
downright carding ; the combing down the mane of a 
horse was nothing to it. The washing process was no 
joke either. The foot of a worsted stocking fitting the 
hand, and teeming with the lather of soft soap, was, 
with a " Burking" dab, fitted like a mask to the mould 
of the features with such muscular application, that if 
the eyes and mouth were not closed as tight as a dram, 
the boy that dare open either would be consigned to 
make more than one wry face for a quarter of an hour 
afterwards to get rid of the effects of the soft soap, 
from whatever aperture or crevice it might have found 
ingress ; and when the boys got out of chancery, the head 
having been twisted and twirled round and round like 
anything, the gripe of the living vice then let go, with 
the other hand giving him a push, which drove the small 



138 



MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



carcass in question helplessly into the hands of the 
dry-rubber, who discharged him in a hurry, after a 
rapid rubbing down with a coarse towel, the neck well 
nigh dislocated and glowing like a fiery ember. 

At the spring and fall of the year, the same female 
was again at her post sine die, a living statue, her left- 
hand resting on a huge brown jar of brimstone and 
treacle, the fingers of the other mechanically coiling 
round the long handle of an iron spoon, its bowl 
rivalling those seen in gravy dishes. The boys being 
placed in a long string, or Indian files, one hugging 
the other's back, and so on, awaiting the direful mo- 
ment ; while some of the bigger boys acted as turnkeys 
to hinder a bolt and to cut off all hopes of escape, as a 
general panic of this sort had been know 7 n to occur 
more than once. Then, in succession, every one tamely 
crept up to the starched and erect personage, when her 
well known hand crowned the scalp or head-piece, the 
fingers sometimes stopping one eye, and often bunging 
up both ; so that the patient taker of brimstone and 
treacle was made as blind as a bat ; his jaws expanding 
to an awful extent, the unhappy head no longer resting 
as it was wont to do, erect on the trunk, but pushed 
back between the shoulders, and with such quickness 
was it placed in this position that the most expert 
tooth-drawer could not have transfixed a head in the 
like position more to advantage for the extraction of 
any tooth. Then followed the stately spoon into the 
orifice ; I will not say how far it entered, as it signifies 
little whether dame nature had given jaws expanding 



MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



139 



wide or not, for the ruthless spoon found a passage, 
leaving the overflowing residue of brimstone and treacle 
rolling down each side of the mouth, which as quick as 
thought was scraped up right and left with the spoon, 
and given as a second edition ; and if all this was not 
kindly taken, or there was any spluttering, coughing, 
sneezing, or the like, a good sound box on the ear 
closed the operation. And as the swallower might run 
away to disgorge, or to lay his head upon a desk until 
relieved from further suspense or annoyance from the 
effects of unsavoiy sweets. Ah, could an Asmodeus 
have seen all ! 

I had forgotten to state, that ere I had passed three 
days at this school the keen edge of my boarding- 
school propensities had quite evaporated. I sucked 
oranges and cried ; cracked walnuts and wept ; cried 
again ; put out my tongue, and did indeed taste the 
briny tears flowing down my cheeks. Continued weep- 
ing and sobbing and playing at cut-core. Crying again; 
so that betwixt stuffing and weeping I was at length 
quite exhausted, and Morpheus took me under his 
protection ; laying my head gently on a desk, a heavy 
slumber stole over my little faculties ; and when I 
awoke my tears were dried up, my sweets had vanished, 
and from that day a settled hatred of every desk and 
form in the school laid fast hold of my noddle. And 
my imp-like mischief, aided and assisted by my little 
colleagues of the same community, had now fairly 
begun, soon expanding into glorious blossom. 

And often have I chuckled while catching an after 



140 



MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



glimpse of a grown up schoolfellow with whiskers, and 
thought it mighty ridiculous to see manhood pouting 
and blubbering like a school-boy, and shedding tears 
of self-love over the roseate cup, or to some patron who 
might have done him an immense favour. My thoughts 
ramble like the irregular amblings of a wild colt ; but 
as the schoolmaster is abroad, this literary dish may 
not suit all palates ; therefore, there being some variety, 
we may have the better chance of success. However, 
I will now set my shoulder to the wheel, and endeavour 
off-hand to give the residue of my scholastic days, and 
then wash my hands of the subject, leaving the school- 
master to muse for himself : therefore, at once to the 
point. 

The same round of pastimes cut in upon our idle 
hours as at most other schools ; but there were two 
sorts of amusements which flourished for a time most 
exceedingly, which I deign to describe in the infinity 
of my most sagacious and experienced wisdom now I 
am at a time of life which is considered " the prime" 
of manhood ; aye, hum ! which may be the case with 
some ; but, indubitably, some years back I could better 
spring over a five-barred gate than at present : of what, 
then, the prime of life materials consist I must leave 
for others to detect ; for, individually speaking, such a 
prime is of little benefit when one is on the balance. 

The first round of amusements which so tickles my 
fancy was a sort of two-legged cavalry, the lighter boy 
getting a-straddle, and mounting the back or haunches 
of the stronger one ; even amongst children the heavy 



MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



141 



youngster would disdain to mount him of so much 
smaller calibre ; and it would have edified any gentle- 
man of the veterinary college to have examined the bone 
and muscle necessary to qualify these two-legged 
carriers, whose backs were honoured with the weight 
of the more long-headed and crafty little equestrian. 

The preparatory points being adjusted, this two- 
legged cavalry were formed in troops, and would charge 
one another with a shock w T hich would not have dis- 
graced the more real and warlike plains in later days. 
The system was for the more fortunate riders to lay hold 
of one another by the collar, the hair, the ear, or any 
other projection coming to hand ; and it was not un- 
common to see the carrier in the " heat of fight," half 
suffocated, his eyes starting from their sockets, and the 
tongue hanging out, from the vigorous pressure of the 
equestrian's arm being coiled round the windpipe ; the 
rider being, perhaps, worsted, or hauled by the ear 
from his elevated seat by a more strong-armed adver- 
sary. 

The carriers in the heat of the strife, from vain glory, 
would often kick, plunge, and by a crook of the leg 
give these opposing two-legged rivals a heavy fall, 
with rider and all, such an occurrence during the melee 
usually caused the same mishap to others, until by 
sundry tumbles a heap of youngsters was amassed, 
very much resembling a pyramid without its regu- 
larity. 

Then followed kicks, cuffs, and blows, the best friends 
in an instant had grown into the bitterest foes, and 



142 



MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



two or three pairs would stand up and fight away, 
without bottle-holders, as viciously as a couple of young 
alligators, little boys would attack big boys, and big 
boys would thump the little ones, and here were 
equestrians and pedestrians in one chaos of dispute 
irremediable, until some black eyes and bloody noses 
would put an end to the scene of tumult. 

The second amusement, if so it may be called, was 
the nocturnal bolstering matches, the feathers of the 
bolster being shaken and stuffed at one end of the 
its case into the hardest possible substance, the 
residue of the ticken being twisted into a coil ; the full 
end of the bolster was then thrown across the shoulder, 
the boys in a body would then leave their different 
rooms to engage and pound away, getting knock- 
down blows, and their pericraniums battered into con- 
fusion. 

One light night, the moon shining like frosted silver 
in the clear firmament, the whole of the boys of one 
room went forth for the purpose of storming the stairs 
leading to another large room, the surprise of which 
was intended, but this surprise was marred owing to 
the tell-tale treason of a boy from our room, who him- 
self would not engage. Instead of finding the stair- 
head free for our passage, it was not only found oc- 
cupied by the boy of the before-named room, but of 
others which they had called to their assistance from 
another. However no-ways daunted at the imposing 
front, and more numerous force of sans-culotte, we 
white-boys and sans-culotte (taking time by the fore- 



MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



143 



lock, for excepting the shirts and a few stray white 
night-caps tied under the chin, we were all in the buff, 
or livery of nature) flew up stairs, and after a most 
furious contest were on the point of gaining the victory, 
when one of our opponents came to the banisters at 
the side of the landing place, and thus taking us in 
rear as it were, hurled a piece of brown crockery-ware 
charged to the brim on our devoted heads ; some were 
blinded from the acidity of the contents of this bomb- 
shell, others slided down the slippery stairs, and 
dropped their feather battering machines, their black 
and white feet sorely cut from the effects of the brittle 
fragments of crockery strewed about. This was too 
much, and our forces gave way in all directions. The 
tumult was prodigious, and reached the ears of the 
school-master, for the whole house was in a clamour. 
As soon as the master could get on his brogues, he stole 
into our room with his undulatory staff of power in his 
celebrated right hand. Fortunately we had made good 
our flight, only minus a few bolsters, and by this time, 
although panting and breathing hard, we had got up 
to our chins in bed-clothes, our forlorn faces were one 
after the other examined by the bright rays of the 
merry moon without his seeming to note any one in 
particular, as he had not yet been favoured with a sight 
of the battle scene. 

But when the last bell rang the following morning 
to descend into the school- room, and the usual mornino- 
prayer over, the dreaded scene began, and several of 
the most innocent boys, who the previous night had 



144 



MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



not left their beds or were any party in the fray, got such 
a drubbing, their bolsters being found on the stairs, 
which had been dragged from under their little heads 
in spite of their teeth, by those who ruled by knuckle- 
law. Suffice, the innocent suffered for the guilty. 

It was given out that the writing-master was one of 
the first scribes in England, indeed, I never saw a better ; 
he flourished with graceful pen, and wrote large, round, 
and small hand to perfection, and engrossed German 
text equal to copper-plate. He also scarified the goose 
feather, dexterously pealed and shaved a quill in a 
jiffy, the particles flying in one's face from the shavings 
of his sharp ivory-handled pen-knife. And while 
nibbing the pen, the elbow well squared, he let it 
drop from the finger and thumb, as one would cast off 
the last particles of a pinch of snuff, who was ex- 
ceedingly well w T ith number one. 

Oh ! had I at this moment a pen garnished with a 
dash of red-ink to paint in glowing colours the sight, 
which all at once dazzled our eyes \ every one was on 
the tip-toe of expectation. " The writing master !" 
" The writing master !" was the theme of every tongue, 
which had hardly escaped from an hundred squeaking 
voices, when the portals throwna open of Gordon-House, 
discloses the jolly dapper contour of the writing-master's 
figure set off with the bright scarlet uniform of the 
" St. James's volunteers. 9 ' A huge coil of sable bear's 
skin bestrode the crown of his round hat from the front 
to the back rim, and at the side was stuck a white and 
red feather, at least a foot in length without counting 



MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 145 

its circumference, waving as it did in graceful undu- 
lation to and fro, the writing-master bustling through 
the play-ground as if he was in a most extraordinary 
hurry. And as he twisted his head of importance 
hither and thither, like a giant amongst the pigmies ; 
the never to be forgotten feather seemed endowed with 
animation, as if in its graceful wagglings and tossings, 
it condescended to recognize one and all of the book- 
worms who were petrified with amazement at so gratify- 
ing a spectacle. And as the writing-master flauntingly 
jerked himself round the right-hand corner of the front 
gate, the feather for a moment stood erect, gave a tre- 
mulous flutter, as if to imply " Good bye, my boys, I'm 
going to glory." 

These volunteers were wont to toss off their heel- 
taps, or break a pipe, and fire at a target under the 
eastern slope of Primrose-hill, where occasionally a 
head would pop from behind a screen or turf bank, 
exclaiming with exultation a " hit," " The bull's eye." 
At the south slope of this green hill, and a few yards 
parallel to a hedge, for some years was cut in the turf 
the initials of two names of principals that fell in a duel, 
one dead, and the other badly wounded, whose names I 
need not repeat. This spot was more than once fatal 
while I was at school. 

But to return within bounds. The red-bait had taken, 
and now the martial spark had ignited as the flint 
strikes the steel, and the rumbling notes of the soul- 
stirring drum already beat the imaginary revielle to the 
heart's core of the book-worms, The school-master 

H 



146 



MOUTH 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



winked at the thing. The tailor shaped the pigmy 
uniforms with alacrity to fit the small circumference of 
some forty youngsters, who took the high sounding 
title of " The Royal Gordon House Volunteers." The 
scarlet jackets were made with swallow tails, and 
turned up with blue facings, the light brown leather 
cap fitting tight to the shape of the head, with peak in 
front, was surmounted with a small coil of fox-coloured 
hair, like the end of a lady's tippet ; the blue panta- 
loons had a red seam up either side ; shoes and black 
half-gaiters or spatterdashes were also worn to complete 
the leggings. Pieces of wood were shaped in the form of 
fire-arms, which finished the whole turn-out. The belts 
were forgotten, or not supplied. A sergeant from the 
foot-guards, attended by a drummer and fifer, initiated, 
the youngsters into the mysteries of right and left face, 
and to hold up their heads. Need I say, that the 
window-frames of the whole edifice jarred from the 
vibration or taps of the drum ; and " the Royal 
Gordon House Volunteers" were the envy of surrounding 
schools. 

Sometimes the school extended its walk to the top 
of Highgate Hill ; and, passing the toll-bar, de- 
scended by that rural road running between Bishop's 
and Kaen Woods, thence passing the Spaniard's ta- 
vern, and the nine elms which are planted on the 
eastern verge of Harnpstead Heath. From this de- 
lightful spot is seen the spire of Harrow steeple, on the 
hill, which is flanked on all sides by verdant dales, 
pastoral valleys, gardens, pleasure-grounds, and a 



MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



147 



finely wooded country dotted with villas, and thickly 
crossed and recrossed by hedge-rows and coppices. 

Half a mile from the nine elms, at the end of a 
broad plateau, on the summit of Hampstead Heath? 
called Gang- Moor-Hill, there is a second tavern, called 
" Jack Straw's Castle," the view from the windows of 
which has often caused a controversy whether the 
glades of Richmond Hill or those of Hampstead are the 
most to be admired, as the disputants glance over the 
" Vale of Health," and rest the eye on Kaen Wood, 
its dense foliage tinted with beautiful lights and shades. 
This wood is encircled with meadow land of hill and 
dale. From Gang-moor Hill the outlines of Windsor 
Castle is perceptible to the naked eye. 

On other occasions we walked up Mill-farm Lane. 
This private road runs betwixt Fitzroy-farm and the 
park palings which enclose Kaen Wood. This pastoral 
lane passes the finest green slopes, and is within the 
distance of three miles from the outskirts of London ; 
yet England can hardly boast of more countrified and 
delightful scenery. 

A bold tongue, or ridge of green hills, j uts out in a 
southerly direction from the park palings of Kaen Wood, 
ending in the fine emerald knoll familiarly known by 
the name of " Parliament Hill," from the bare summit 
of which a noble, amphitheatrical circumference is pre- 
sented to the view, including the. villages of Hampstead 
and Highgate, Primrose Hill, the Thames, Greenwich, 
and the Surrey hills, and a long range of vista, into 
the county of Essex. 

h 2 



148 



MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



At the foot of this hill is a green valley, out of which 
rises the mighty metropolis, the great emporium of the 
world's commerce ; and from east to west a dense 
volume of smoke rises as above some field of strife, 
and the rumbling noises from its paved streets, when 
the ear is placed near the sod, sounds like the breakers 
of the ocean roaring on the distant beach. 

The dome of St. Paul's at times is obscured in smoke 
and is seen to rise in splendid majesty, as if commemo- 
rative of the great name of Sir Christopher Wren ; 
and it is curious to observe within the narrow compass 
of the olden city, which is distinctly marked to the 
vision by the many dotted spires and turrets so thickly 
set, and reminds one of Catholic days of yore. 

More westerly are seen the outlines of Westminster 
Abbey, as though its towers deigned not to amalgamate 
with the steeples clustering round St. Paul's in the 
east. 

All around Parliament Hill nature is clothed with an 
emerald livery, and many magnificent ponds fringed 
with grass, some of them more than half a mile in 
circumference, resemble lakes in miniature, which flank 
the base of this hill. Such charming scenery calls 
forth admiration, within the sound of " Bow bell," 
where the Middlesex cows produce good cream, and 
give a fine pail of milk for the sustenance of the stranger 
traveller, who ever and anon lolls on Middlesex sod, 
talks not, but thinks of humble home, and afar from it 
is ambitious for a statue or a colossal tomb on the 
banks of father Thames to commemorate his memory. 



MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



149 



Whether as a hero, a gifted wrangler, or, like 
" Punch," his head up for a space and down again ; 
gentle reader, for I prefer addressing thee by the like 
coaxing phrase, although at this very moment thy face 
may be awry and thy hair erect like the bristles of a 
hedge-hog, thy teeth gnashing, and other untoward 
indications of direful wrath, to bring down at the first 
favourable opportunity the literary flail on the sconces 
of us Middlesex boys, for daring to cope with natives 
from the inflexible rocks and cataracts, or the purple 
heather, which are so loved a la distance. Well^ 
well, I do confess thy patience, reader, has been put 
to a severe trial ; and I now do promise to shew up the 
schoolmaster upon the tapis as soon as I can get him 
ready to appear, owning, as I do, that his vacant 
rostrum and signs of office lying idle is like a rudder or 
wheel without a steersman. But if I have concealed 
the great mogul behind the screen, it is only done for 
the love of a little pleasantry, to shew the power of the 
scribe even to handle the schoolmaster as the sportsman 
would a dead bird, or as an old woman would a town- 
fed duck, by exhaling in the usual method whether or 
no the fowl be sweet or fit for roasting ; or, as the 
young miss twiddles her sampler, with the whole alpha- 
bet marked thereon, in little a, big B, and a larger C, 
with threads of all shades and colours. 

As my eye glides over the smooth polish of the paper, 
I feel inspired aloft, above myself, that I can say what 
I like, do what I like, shaping all sorts of figures and 
tropes at my imperious will and pleasure* What Dey 



150 



MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



of Algiers ever possessed the will and pleasure of an 
author, who passes over oceans, mountains, and deserts, 
with the eagle's glance. Within the last half minute 
whole lines are exploded ; the hours of thought are torn 
out and cast aside as useless ; whole sheets of paper 
are torn to scraps, and ordered to be cast into the 
flames. 

Malheur eusement. — The best Greek scholar at our 
school was the most consummate f — 1 in Gordon House 
establishment ; nature so ordained it ; and I only report 
the circumstance as a legitimate truth, and not an ill- 
natured remark emanating from myself. 

Von Tromp's broom at the mast head was nothing to 
the insignia of our school-master, who, with light tread 
descended into the school-room ; a pin dropping might 
have been heard at his appearance ; but when absent 
a loquacious buzzing extended from one end of the 
place of study to the other. 

At the receipt of any great national victories, or 
illuminations, it was the custom for the youngsters, in 
an undertone, by way of feeling the master's pulse, to 
call out conge, conge, and increasing the pitch of their 
voices according to the frowns or smiles on the phy- 
siognomy of the master. One day this conge, conge 
had increased to a great pitch, even to the beating time 
with the feet under the desks ; when the school-master, 
in an audible and firm voice, stood up and said, 
" When the quartern loaf falls to a shilling you shall 
have a holiday." His fiat had gone forth; a deep 
silence and an awful pause followed this short but de- 



MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



151 



cisive harangue. Shortly after this affair, some of the 
little urchins and wags found out that the quartern loaf 
had fallen to a shilling : the united voices of conge, 
conge broke loud and deep on the ear of the school- 
master, who probably was not aware of the fall in the 
corn-market, and, lifting up his spectacles, looked round 
the school-room with a magisterial air of authority ; the 
clamour increased, the feet rattled under the desks ; the 
master, out of all patience, seized his undulating staff 
of office to put a seal on the lips of the noisy young- 
sters ; but it was vain; he had pledged his word, and 
the word of the school-master was not to be broken 
even to the little boys. They were unanimous, and 
more than a hundred voices demanded his pledge to 
be fulfilled. There was no public victory in the news 
of the day, no illumination, no public rejoicings at 
hand ; the master, therefore, thought the boys were 
gone mad, and was about to wreak his vengeance on 
their heads like so many barber's blocks ; but a partial 
silence at length being obtained saved so fatal a mis- 
take, as a small deputation informed the school-master 
that the quartern loaf had fallen to a shilling ; who, 
with great tact and without a moment's delay, de- 
scended from his lofty eminence, and actually run out 
of the school-room, followed by the shouts and the 
huzzaing of the whole school. Here the mighty, re- 
nowned, and most puissant school-master, amenable 
neither to judge or jury, was obliged to give way to 
public opinion ; and this scene formed a good moral 
lesson for big boys with whiskers, at what little boys 



152 



MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



without whiskers accomplished by their united tongues 
alone ; and so let us respond, " Long life to the little 
Royal Gordon House Volunteers. " 

And by way of a finish I must not fail to relate one 
occurrence from the school-room. There was a door 
which led into a long passage, covered with slanting 
rafters. This passage was only partially lighted from a 
few narrow loopholes ; at the end of this dimly lighted 
passage was a door which, during the five years I had 
been at the school, I never remembered seeing opened. 
There was an acute angle which led, as we say in French, 
to avoid the marque, to numero au cent. One day* 
while sauntering down the aforesaid passage, I was 
startled to observe a stream of light issuing from this 
dingy spot or door-way, and upon giving it a gentle push 
it flew back on its hinges, displaying on its threshold 
a young lady, standing under a tree, of about fourteen 
years old, dressed in vestal white, her light curls and 
tresses w T ere gently agitated by the zephyrs, otherwise 
her form was motionless, as her blue eyes and bloomy 
countenance were turned towards the door. Beyond 
Miss was a garden of considerable size, inter- 
sected with trees ; but this Eden was sacred, and not 
to be defiled by the tread of the boys. All that I now 
disclose was seen only by the glance of a few moments. 

Whether Miss was waiting for her brother, (who 

was at this school,) I cannot pretend to say; however, 
without preface or further ceremony, I sprang forward, 
took the charming girl round the centre, and imprinted 
a kiss on her coral lips. There was no explanation— 



MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



153 



no resistance — or a word uttered on either side, and 
as soon as I had again sprang behind the door and 
gently closing it, I was most exceedingly alarmed at 
what I had done, looked at every one with suspicion, 
to detect whether I was found out or not, and every 
moment expected to be put in requisition to receive the 
punishment due to my crime. After two or three 
hours had elapsed I mustered up courage to steal to- 
wards the door again ; it was made fast on the garden 
side, nor did I ever see it unclosed again ; nor 
was any unwelcome tidings announced to me from 
any quarter, and 1 was too wise to make known my 
bon fortune, 

A calendar of squares was formed with the days of 
the month marked thereon, and each square was crossed 
over, one by one, with red or black ink, in a fantastical 
manner, in anticipation of the coming holidays, and the 
whole were blotted out when that time had arrived. 
The school-room was cleared of all the desks and 
forms : the carpenters were set to work at the upper 
end of the room, w 7 here the larger boys usually sat, 
which w ? as raised a few inches above the rest of the 
floor. And here platforms were constructed to form a 
tier of benches, where the whole school sat one above 
the other pretty closely packed, and in this position 
each youngster received cakes and comfortable warm 
drinks, that were handed round from time to time. 

, The visitors were accommodated with chairs on either 
side of the school-room, and the young ladies from 
the boarding-schools, coming from near the rookery or 

ii 3 



154 



MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



grove, Kentish-town, were placed in a similar manner 
on forms. 

The all-inspiring moment had arrived, and every boy- 
was in breathless expectation, and every eye was turned 
for the all-important crisis when the gold and two silver 
pens were to be awarded by the sages to those three 
boys who most excelled in writing the best u Pieces" 
of " Penmanship." 

That most important ceremony over, and the congra- 
tulations finished to the successful candidates, the 
minuet de la corps was formed to open the ball, and one 
out of the four young ladies so placed was without a 

partner, and that was the lovely Miss , whom I 

had saluted some time before beneath the tree as de- 
scribed. Young as I was I looked at her from my seat 
with pleasurable emotions ; her back was towards me, 
and she wore a white muslin frock, with a pretty silk 
sash tied round her waist behind in a bow, the ribbons 
hanging down to the hem of her garments ; one of her 
feet was gracefully placed a few inches from the other, 
the point of the right slipper at the proper dancing angle 
ready for the first pas. 

Mr. J , the dancing-master, his hair most pro- 
fusely powdered and pomatumed, with his diminutive 
violin, under his arm, came skipping along with an en 
avant pas 9 towards where I was seated among the rest 
of the boys, and having beckoned several times without 
effect, as it was uncertain whose attention these invita- 
tions were intended to attract. 

He at length called me by name, and I at once re- 



MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 155 



sponded to his solicitations, in descending, and casting 
a glance at my silk stockings and pumps, to ascertain 
that all was well, when oh ! happy moment, he quietly 
took me by the hand, and led me to the side of Miss 

, whom I have already described. This was 

very odd ! I bowed — we exchanged looks of recogni- 
tion, and went through all the scraping, bowing, and 
courtsying of the minuet de la corps. 

The last notes of the violin had hardly ceased to 

reverberate when Mr. J intruded his ever polite 

hand, and leading my fair partner to her seat to rejoin 
the rest of the young ladies of her school. 

What a happy and inexplicable conclusion to 
make amends for my past delinquency ! I must now 
draw to a close ; and before these, my plum-pudding 
holidays were over, I was found on parade as one of 
the late Earl Fitzwilliam's ensigns, w T hile staggering 
under the green silken colours, the white rose of York 
a foot and a half in diameter, embroidered thereon in 
silver. 

In France this description of force is called the " Na- 
tional Guards," but in merry England it is designated 
the " Militia." 

Before I had kept my fourteenth birth-day I had fin- 
gered six or seven one pound provincial notes per month 
for my services ; probably manhood may laugh at youth, 
and sneer at boys putting on uniform before the taste 
of pap is well out of their mouths ; for myself, let me 
be silent ; for other boys I must vouch how well they 
have behaved in battle, and if this cannot be under- 



156 



MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



stood of the English breed, let us refer to the boys of 
the Polytechnic school, in France, who so well served 
their cannon against the pike of the Cossack in 1814. 

My schoolmaster was from Scotland, and a scholar 
for whom I possess a high respect, although, as a pupil, 
I may have hardly done him justice : here was no syn- 
tax proportions, but a mould of a schoolmaster, cast 
with herculean proportions, who could have thrown a 
sack of flour across his back from the mill, and walked 
off with it into the bargain. 



CHAP. VII. 



LAC BORGNE. 

Soon after night-fall, the 31st of December, 1814, our 
convoy left the mouth of the Mississippi, and steered 
its course, in the-Gulf of Florida, towards the entrance 
of Lac Borgne, or the blind lake near the Chandeleur 
islands. 

On the morning of the 1st of January, 1815, a most 
exceedingly dense white fog hung upon the waters, 
and totally obscured all objects, and our convoy was 
obliged to lay too without knowing what position it had 
gained. Not a breath of wind agitated the waters, nor 
could one vessel see another even within half cable's 
length. All around about us we heard minute guns 
fired, as is customary in honour of some great funeral 
or doleful event. This extraordinary fog lasted for some 
hours, and eclipsed all objects ; the most intense excite- 
ment was felt by us, intermingled with curiosity to dis- 
cover, if possible, where we were and from whence 
came the long roll of the various cannon that were 
discharged as precautionary signals to hinder, .if 
possible, one ship from running foul of the other. 
But here the imagination must be left to fill up the 
recital for some hours, figuring to itself how sin- 
gularly impressive these intonations from the reports 



158 



lac borgne; 



of the cannon must have sounded to our ears, having 
come so far, and then greeted by so singular an an- 
nouncement that we were amidst invisible friends, or 
supposed to be so ; for beyond the scope of a few planks 
on our own decks, the vision did not extend until late 
in the day. And what is not a little odd, during our 
long voyage, with the exception of the before mentioned 
piractical-looking vessel, and a distant man-of-war, 
that, since leaving England, I had hardly seen a strange 
sail, and while coasting along St. Domingo, Jamaica, 
and Cuba, not a single boat was seen by myself, or the 
canvass of any ship ; and, while crossing the Gulf of 
Mexico, the usual vista of sky and water only added 
to the monotony of the scene. 

After some hours suspense, the great fog by degrees 
cleared off, and we found ourselves encircled by a 
British fleet of, at least, sixty sail, including line of 
battle ships, frigates, sloops, transports, and other 
smaller craft lying at anchor. At the entrance of Lac 
Borgne the forlorn-looking coast or flats are covered 
with fir trees, and along the horizontal line, these 
trees in perspective appear to sink lower and lower, 
like the sable feathers upon a funeral hearse, until 
they diminished as specks upon the water. 

The greater part of the British fleet at anchor had 
come from the Chesapeak, after capturing Washington 
with the British on board, who malignantly set fire 
to some of its public buildings, which conflagration in 
a military or a civil point of view totally eclipsed all the 
honour and glory gained by a handful of British troops, 



OR, THE BLIND LAKE, 



159 



while ascending the heights of Blandensburg. This 
act of incendiarism, instead of forwarding the interests 
of His Britannic Majesty had a contrary effect, and 
united the Americans as one man, to step forward 
boldly to save their homes from the torch of the in- 
cendiary. And would it be believed that these very 
troops, when they evacuated Washington, were under 
the necessity of leaving their badly wounded to the 
care of a people who had suffered from such dreadful 
destruction of property, and that these Americans would 
not soil their hands in the blood of the helpless, but 
on the contrary fostered these wounded soldiers who 
had fallen in the fair field of battle. 

Soon after the capture of Washington, a similar 
attempt had been made by the same troops to endeavour 
to enter Baltimore, in front of which Major-general 
Ross was killed by an American marksman, when the 
second in command of the British troops retreated to 
his ships. 

This fleet, being again reinforced with more ships and 
soldiers, run past the West Indies, to make an attempt 
on New Orleans. We cast anchor just within Lac 
Borgne. Here it will be necessary to notice, before 
taking farewell of the Helen, which was afterwards 
loaded with stores on her passage to England, that 
she foundered at sea, and all hands perished, except a 
cabin boy, who, clinging to a hen-coop, was picked up 
by a vessel. He made known that the first mate 
of the Helen had accidently blown his brains out, 
having put his foot upon the lock of a rusty musket 



160 



lac borgne; 



while cleaning it, which exploded and put an end to 
him; and that the following day, the brig sunk so 
unexpectedly as not even to give the crew time to get 
out the long-boat ; therefore the hole in the bottom 
was nothing imaginary, and, no doubt, much larger 
than was anticipated. This was the last of the Helen, 
her amiable master, well conducted mate, and crew. 
Most likely had she not floated as an ark, for myself 
and others across the Atlantic, her fate and that of 
her crew might have been consigned to the same ob- 
livion of other craft, of small note and tonnage. A 
thought now comes across my mind, that the officer 
whose company I succeeded to was, on the supposition 
of his being drowned, as he w r as never heard of after 
setting sail from the rock of Gibraltar, in a ship car- 
goed with rags, which was supposed to be seen on 
fire off the Spanish coast. This officer had also re- 
ceived a terrible gun-shot wound in his breast-bone, 
w r hich, for a time was thought to be mortal ; and 
what is more strange, that the captain, a fine young 
man, with whom I exchanged, when going on half-pay, 
was also drowned, on an excursion of amusement. 

What my ultimate fate is to be, must be left in the 
inscrutible hands of Him above, who ordains all things 
for us vain worms, that crawl upon the earth for a span, 
flattering ourselves that we hand down to posterity the 
seasons, the winds, the waves, and less enduring 
pyramids, the hieroglyphics or the mummy. 

The 3d of January, men-of-war's boats came along- 
side, one sailor wore a bear's skin cap, like that repre- 



OR, THE BLIND LAKE. 



161 



sented on the head of Robinson Crusoe, others were 
unshaved and made unusually wild and shaggy con- 
figurations, after toiling so long in the boats un- 
shaved. Each officer provided himself with a rolled 
cloak and blanket, to which was added a haver- 
sack, stuffed with a couple of shirts, two pairs of 
socks, a towel, a piece of soap, a tooth-brush, with an 
extra pair of shoes or boots. This being what is called 
light marching order, no other baggage being allowed 
ashore on this occasion. Descending into one of these 
boats, we were soon stuffed, with two companies, into a 
small skiffer, usually employed in carrying cargoes of 
moist sugar from one West India island to another ; 
the decks and the interior of the cabin were crusted 
with a sweet and sparkling substance, shining like sugar- 
candy, the cabin was so small that we could neither 
sit or lie down therein, and the half-decks were so 
crowded by the soldiers, that they could hardly move their 
limbs, but flattered themselves that a few hours would 
relieve them from their cramped and tedious positions. 
It was almost impracticable to move from one quar- 
ter of this small vessel to the other, without treading 
on hands, arms, legs, heads, and, indeed, on every 
part of the human frame, so closely packed were the 
crowd of living persons, many of whom attempted to 
climb up the scanty rigging, the ropes of which were 
likewise covered with the sweets of the sugar-cane, 
to endeavour for a brief space to stretch their stiffened 
and contracted limbs. 

A midshipman commanded her, and during the 



162 



lac borgne; 



murky hours of darkness was coiled up and shrouded 
by the union jack in the cabin, which was of such 
ridiculously small dimensions that a moderate-sized 
man could neither stand up nor lie down in it. Aboard 
this skifFer an accident happened which was the very 
ne plus ultra of all that could be most ridiculous ; but 
as the occurrence might annoy the stranger whose lot 
it was to come among us, I must refrain from levity 
in detailing the accident which befel him and others 
further than that His Majesty's union jack came in for 
a share of the good luck which plastered every indi- 
vidual in the cabin, its door-way, and its walls. The 
full-grown middy began to bluster with a strain of 
nautical phrases, but had no sooner jumped out of his 
place of refuge to show his authority than he was at 
once in the same doleful plight with the rest, and not- 
withstanding bravely exclaimed that he could have 
got over the mishap, but the idea of the union jack 
being so treated was abominable. 

The following morning, in the Lac Borgne, we saw 
the five American schooners, or gunboats, which were 
moored in line about four hundred yards distant one 
from the other, which had been captured a few days 
before, the headmost was the last that surrendered, 
and carried a very heavy gun mounted upon a circular 
traverse. 

Although this lake is from fifteen to twenty miles in 
breadth in some parts, and about fifty miles in length, 
its waters are so shallow in many places that we got 
aground several times on oyster-beds, which almost rise 



OR, THE BLIND LAKE. 



163 



to the surface of the water, and here and there above it ; 
the shores on each side are perfectly flat, and principally 
covered with fir-trees. After two days' pulling, hauling, 
and toicing, on the 5th we reached, early at night, the 
mouth of a creek, twelve miles from New Orleans : we 
again shifted our berth, were hustled into launches and 
other row-boats, pulled by men-of-war's men. The 
country presents a perfect morass, and is covered with 
a sheet of reeds eight or nine feet high, with only one 
tree and a few miserable huts (not visible to us, owing 
to the darkness) to break the monotonous scenery for 
many miles. The water rises so near to the level of the 
bog that every ripple caused by the motion of a boat 
seemed as if it would overflow this dreary marsh, 
which is intersected with stagnant pools and narrow 
creeks of immense depth. The sailors in the boat were 
amusing us with a description of the red men, who 
were now 7 the allies of the British, and actually in their 
bivouac before New Orleans ; and I must confess that 
my fancy was wrought up to the highest excitement to 
obtain a glimpse of these Indians, who, as stated, 
were in the habit of stealing through the reeds or un- 
derwood in these parts, for the purpose of discharging 
a rifle or a poisoned arrow at their enemies, who, dead 
or alive, was unmercifully scalped on the spot, the 
skin and the hair of the dead so torn off being; one 
of their greatest and most esteemed trophies of dis- 
tinction. 

After two hours' rowing we saw a fire at a short dis- 
tance to the left, this being the first signs of animation 



164 



LAC BORGNE. 



(to refer to Columbus) we had seen on shore in the 
New World* At the sight of this welcome beacon for 
landing our hearts bounded with inexpressible delight 
as we jumped on terra firma, or rather into a morass, 
covered with trampled reeds, which alone prevented 
our sinking into a clayey substance or quagmire. The 
only tent standing was compassed by scattered stores, 
such as barrels of salt junk and biscuits, rum-casks, 
sails, ropes, canoes, paddles, cannon-balls, rammers, 
handspikes, ammunition, pitch-pots, and water-casks, 
which were piled together into a circle, in the middle of 
which a group of jolly tars had kindled a fire, whilst 
others were fast asleep, their heads stuck into casks or 
small barrels, which afforded them a little shelter from 
the night-dew after a hard day's pull. The captain of 
the navy who superintended the debarkation of troops 
and stores at this spot invited us to his tent, and made 
us feel truly comfortable by a seasonable supply of hot 
grog, which was boiled in a cauldron. We then in 
merry mood started along the edge of the creek to join 
the army before New Orleans. As we proceeded, the 
ground became by degrees firmer, and having passed 
through a small forest, at midnight we joined the 
greater portion of our regiment, which had already 
landed from other boats. Here as many congratu- 
lations were exchanged between us as if we had been 
separated for years. The huts were constructed of 
sugar-canes ; and rolled in our solitary blankets we slept 
as soundly during the night as if reposing on beds of 
down. 



165 

CAMP BEFORE NEW ORLEANS. 

The following morning I saw, of men, women, and 
children, about tw r o hundred Chickasaw and Chactaw 
Indians, who were squatting close on the left of our huts. 
Their outlandish-looking faces, like masks, deeply excited 
my attention and curiosity ; the complexion of the men 
was a copper colour, and they were perfectly naked, with 
the exception of a girdle round their loins, with a dirty 
blanket or the skin of a wild beast slung round their 
necks, which hung dow 7 n the back like a mantle. No- 
thing could exceed the hideousness of their .coun- 
tenances ; the forehead projects in an extraordinary 
degree ; the eyes are generally dark with a sullen 
expression; the eyebrow r s are broad and bushy; the 
nostrils are distended, from which hang a metal ring ; 
the upper part of the bridge of the nose scarcely rises 
above the face, which is tattooed. Amongst some of 
them the two front teeth are pulled up, no doubt by 
little and little, to make them stick out horizontally; 
the teeth, so unnaturally placed, hold up the upper lip, 
which gives a truly savage aspect; their heads are 
large, with long black hair, the texture about as coarse 
as a horse's tail. In the afternoon they decorate them- 
selves by rubbing their cheeks with a sort of red ochre, 
and intermingling with the hair the bright plumage of 
various birds, and when so adorned they sit cross- 
legged opposite a small fire, their eyes cast down as if 
in deep and important meditation, and in no instance, 
when thus bedizened, did I ever see them deign to 



166 



CAMP BEFORE NEW ORLEANS. 



give us a glance. The married women, or squaws, are 
in a state of nudity, with the exception of one petticoat 
reaching to the middle of the calf of the leg ; the 
daughters of twelve years of age are entirely without 
covering, and squat in the white ashes cross-legged, 
like their parents ; and when they have occasion to 
move about, the ashes from the fire sticking like 
feathers to their posteriors, and as dame nature has 
cast the part in so many moulds, no further description 
can be requisite to assist the tittering faculties. 

I did not see the three chiefs, or kings, in their real 
costume, as they were transmogrified and wore ser- 
geants' jackets, the uniform of the staff-corps. Nothing 
could surpass their grotesque figures, assisted by the 
haughty, frowning, and important looks put on by 
them, which considerably added to their comic turnout. 

One of these warrior-chiefs wore an old round hat (no 
doubt in compliment to the British) with a white 
feather stuck on one side, a red jacket, with broad 
skirts, like a shooting-jacket, and a pair of leather 
breeches open at the knees, without shoes or stockings, 
finished the tout ensemble. 

The other two kings wore the red jackets covered 
with a profusion of gold lace, but were sans culottes, 
with a clout betwixt their naked copper-coloured legs. 
If anything, they all turned the toe a little inwards, 
and raising the feet very high from the ground, as if 
walking amongst brambles or underwood, and then 
swing the knee, with a sort of flourish, they plant the 
foot firmly down, as if to imply that it had safely arrived 



CAMP BEFORE NEW ORLEANS. 



167 



without meeting with any tanglements or underwood in 
its descent, which usually intersect the forests of their 
encampments, where they no doubt acquire this style 
of walk from early life. 

The women, from carrying heavy loads, go along 
with a sort of springing jog trot; and the children, 
while running along, raising their little legs as if tread- 
ing on hot embers, owing to the tenderness of their 
feet ; this, imbibed from infancy, may account for the 
elders raising their feet as stated. 

An officer was indiscreet enough to ask one of these 
chiefs to permit him to examine one of their scalping- 
knives ; which was acceded to, accompanied by a look 
as black as thunder. We told the officer not to allow 
the chief to find out where his hut was placed, or to a 
certainty his wig would be ripped off his head before 
the morning. When these chiefs dined with the ge- 
neral, one of them asked if the " King of England 
was as great a man as himself? " Indeed, nothing can 
surpass their pomposity. And as a general outline of 
these savages in a body, they resembled those figures 
descending the broad stairs at the Italian Opera-house 
into the infernal regions in the ballet of La Fauste. A 
few hundred yards behind our bivouac an immense brick 
warehouse was situated, from which enormous casks, 
filled with sugar,were rolled and converted into a battery. 
The proprietors house was built of light materials, and 
standing on piles about the same height from the 
ground as the base of a hayrick, to protect it from 
being flooded when the Mississippi overflowed its arti- 



168 



CAMP BEFORE NEW ORLEANS. 



ficial dyke, the river at this place is about eight 
hundred or a thousand yards in breadth, bringing in 
its rapid current huge forest-trees, many of which were 
still sticking in its muddy banks. Temporary sheds, 
constructed of wood, were clustered round the proprie- 
tor's house for the use of the black slaves which belong 
to this sugar-plantation ; but where they found shelter 
during the floods I cannot say, but I suppose behind the 
thick and massive brick walls of the sugar-warehouse. 
Many of the negroes and negresses continued in these 
dwellings, but most of them had escaped to New 
Orleans, distant little more than five miles. A half- 
moon detached battery, little more than a mile in 
front of this bivouac, was just in front of the right of 
the American lines on the high road, mounted with 
four pieces of cannon. Its exterior as well as the whole 
face of the flat country strongly reminded me of a 
similar battery that had been under my command in 
the marshes of Lincolnshire, in England, on the right 
bank of the river Humber, when I was little more than 
fifteen years of age. 

In this bivouac before New Orleans I met my friend 
and former brother officer, Wilkinson, who was now a 
captain in the eighty-fifth light infantry, and acting as 
brigade-major to Major-general Gibbs. But, as was 
usual in service, on many occasions, he still wore the 
uniform of his regiment, consisting of a red jacket, 
with yellow facings, the shoulders set off with silver- 
bullion wings and plated scales, like the links of ancient 
armour. 



CAMP BEFORE NEW ORLEANS. 



169 



An officer of the forty-third said, " Why, Wilky, 
how is it that you have not provided us with good 
quarters in New Orleans, as we expected? — Why, 
what the d 1 have you been about ?" At this ques- 
tion Wilkinson looked exceedingly vexed ; and clapping 
his hand to his forehead, and colouring up deeply, he 
turned away, stamping his foot, according to his usual 
custom when put out, and giving his arm a peculiar 
swing, answered, " Oh ! say no more about it." And 
then placing his arm within mine, we paced up and 
down for a long time, when he opened such a budget of 
astounding information, concerning the hesitation shown 
for the fourteen previous days, as to make the very mili- 
tary blood curdle in one's veins. And, on being further 
questioned, by myself, as to the great stoppage, an- 
swered, " bullets stopped us — bullets — that's all ! " 
but declared that the lines in front were now grown 
formidable, and that the only chance of taking them 
was by a well concerted and simultaneous rush, when, 
should the ditch prove too deep in front of these lines, 
short-planked ladders would be the only means to 
cross it, by raising them on end, and letting them drop 
across the ditch, and then for the assailants to run 
over them. 

Wilkinson was one of the best military draughts- 
men in the army, and all his maps and plans were 
executed in a correct manner, and highly finished. 

Wilkinson was called the " little corporal," from his 
prompt and decided port while conveying refractory 
cadets to the black-hole for various misdemeanours com- 

i 



170 



CAMP BEFORE NEW ORLEANS. 



niitted at the Royal Military College, at Marlow, (now 
removed to Sandhurst.) The gallant end of this 
officer is not to be deplored as a soldier on the field 
of battle, so much as his after sufferings when mortally 
wounded. 

Although the following statement may appear trivial 
and simple-minded to recount, still at intervals we 
relax and indulge in the rehearsal of those trifles that 
have afforded us amusement in days of yore. Besides, 
there is no good reason why these our pastimes should 
not be noticed in print, as, may-hap, some young per- 
sons may chance to peruse this book, who are fond of 
what is called light reading, the more so as youth 
and more advanced manhood are so nearly allied and 
identified with the phrase of chacun a son gout* 
For instance, I once knew a worthy baronet, who was 
not, as we may say, very far advanced in life, who 
possessed much ready wit, was polite and exceedingly 
pleasant at his own table, and, withal, was once a 
cornet in the life-guards, as an additional recom- 
mendation. This baronet thought himself a great and 
experienced lapidary, and was passionately fond of 
varnishing flint-stones, and making, as he thought, 
a collection of thunderbolts, which were brought to 
him by those peasantry that knew his hobby, by whole 
barrow-loads, for the lapidary to pick and choose from 
the lot. The baronet, thinking that I was patience 
personified, one day, after dinner, conducted me into 
his sanctum sanctorum, and, with a transport of delight, 
pointed to one corner of the room, which was piled up 



CAMP BEFORE NEW ORLEANS. 171 

with varnished flints of all shapes and sizes, with a 
second pile not quite so large, of his imaginary thunder- 
bolts, after a long lecture, and expatiating on the 
beauty and the variety of his collection. As an espe- 
cial mark of favour he presented me with three flints 
and two thunderbolts. When descending into the 
drawing-room, would it be believed that I found my- 
self envied in possession of these stores, and some little 
jealousy was exhibited by some of the lapidary's older 
but less favoured friends. Making my bow at my 
departure, I was much joked about these flints and 
thunderbolts, weighing some pounds, within the coils of 
my bandana handkerchief; and thus loaded I afforded 
considerable amusement to my companion in the vehi- 
cle, who every now and then looked, as he said, to see 
whether the horse in the gig was about to knock up 
with such a load at his hoofs. 

After I had returned from the Walcheren expedition 
to England, Wilkinson was appointed as lieutenant in 
the same corps to which I belonged, and we soon 
became intimate friends, and for months were busily 
employed with the chisel and the pen-knife in shaping 
a small baronial castle of wood, which was flanked 
with loop-holed and embattled tow T ers. The gate be- 
tween the round towers was also protected by a port- 
cullis, and over the space within the walls from the 
keep, a draw-bridge was thrown over ; the links of the 
chain that supported it were formed of sheet tin, which 
was cut into strips with a strong pair of scissors, and 
then rolled into links. Painted glass windows were 

i 2 



172 CAMP BEFORE NEW ORLEANS, 

inserted in the gothic apertures of the keep, and a little 
gilded silken flag was placed on its summit. We also 
cut out about one hundred and fifty little wooden sol- 
diers, and painted them. The officers being orna- 
mented with gold and silver paper, according to their 
respective ranks, and all being completed, this castle 
was besieged, not with a battering-ram, but with small 
brass cannon, of a calibre which carried swan shot. 
Before a breach was practicable, all the staff and supe- 
rior officers were put hors de combat, when a sergeant, 
who defended a round tower, was promoted to the rank 
of colonel and lieutenant-governor ; and, after a warm 
wrangle between Wilkinson and myself, at his skipping 
over the grades of ensign, lieutenant, captain, and 
major, it was finally arranged that none under the rank 
of colonel could have the honour of taking charge of 
the castle. The ci-devant sergeant being armed with 
a tin sword, was repainted and covered with a profusion 
of silver paper, cutting a most dashing and brilliant 
appearance, and having risen to this rank from the 
working soldier, it was determined to give him a benefit 
of the post of honour, that is to say, the hottest berth 
in the castle. The siege went on, many fell by his 
side, but the ci-devant sergeant seemed endowed with 
a charmed exterior. 

Richards, the paymaster of our regiment, was most 
exceedingly annoyed at the many and loud reports of 
the cannon at this long siege, which took place in the 
next room to his apartments ; but, at length, was so 
excited that he would throw down his pen to see how 



CAMP BEFORE NEW ORLEANS. 



173 



things were going on ; and seeing the almost super- 
natural escapes of the lieutenant-governor, with sterling 
warmth, he intreated that the fire of the brass cannon 
should be directed to another quarter of the castle 
without effect ; and when the paymaster heard that the 
ci-devant sergeant had at last fallen, he burst out of the 
room in a fit of despair at the unfair way that he had 
been treated. 

For days afterwards he would enter the room, and 
say, really I cannot forget that poor sergeant ; and 
protesting that such was the force of custom from the 
reports of the little cannon day after day, he failed 
to cast up his accounts with half the correctness since 
the noise had ceased. 

Years afterwards, having some of those little figures 
in a small case, whilst disembarking in England from 
France, a custom-house officer looked at them ; when 
I told him that I had made them : " Oh, poh, poh ! ,? 
replied he, " they are of French manufacture ; but 
I shall not notice trifles like these." Some of these 
little figures I possess to the present day. 



CHAPTER VIIL 



THE FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS* 

Having proceeded so far, regarding our own imme- 
diate movements and adventures, it may be as well, as 
a key to the whole of the transactions which took place 
before our arrival off the coast, to state briefly such 
cicumstances as were related, on the spot, to myself by 
those whose veracity may be depended on. 

And here I must premise, by saying that I have in- 
variably found in the bivouac or the tented field un- 
disguised truths laid bare, either regarding a surprise, 
a victory, or a defeat, and the minutise of all occur- 
rences detailed with unvarnished tale. 

The broad and wholesome language which is held 
over the flaring-up or the dying embers of the camp- 
fires, is a good telegraphic lesson for men of the world. 
Here the utmost good-nature prevails. A spirit of 
emulation undoubted^ exists, and certain corps stand 
high, and are acknowledged pre-eminent according to 
their several practical merits, and are looked up to with 
an unjaundiced eye. And this I dwell on, because he 
who writes must make up his mind to go straight 
a-head, and to strain every nerve to wrestle and to 
endeavour to disentagle himself from the stumbling- 
blocks and the literary cords which are too often in 



FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 175 

ready coils to shackle the pen, and to hood- wink him, 
who offers his genuine mite to the stock of unmutilated 
history* 

But, in after times, when past events are disinterred 
and brought to light, they are too often ill-digested, 
and engender rancour in the breasts of those craving- 
praise on hot-pressed paper, for that which they could 
not grapple with or execute in the face of an enemy. 
Victory elicits praise, defeat seldom ; except, perchance, 
by some of those who can only boast of figuring in 
what is called a u fine retreat." 

Now it will be absolutely necessary to portray, for 
the elucidation of the reader, how it came to pass that 
we found the British force at the spot of ground which 
they had possessed themselves of at mid-day, the pre- 
vious 23d of December, 1814; and seven days before 
our arrival off the immense flats of West Florida. 

However, to cut the matter short, New Orleans, the 
capital of Louisiana, counted at this time a mixed 
population of twenty thousand souls, coming from the 
parent stock of Spaniards, French, Creoles, Americans, 
negro slaves, and coffin-makers. The warehouses of 
the city were amply stored with cotton to a vast 
amount, and also sugar, molasses, tobacco, and other 
products of this prolific soil, which, at flood water-mark 
of the Mississippi, is only protected by the levee de 
terre, or bank, from a submersion of those united 
waters, running more than three thousand seven hun- 
dred miles from the interior, through vast solitudes of 
forests and prairies, which, like a great artery, is at 



176 



FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 



times boiling over with the countless watery veins from 
the embrochures of the great American continent. 

The ground around about, and on which New Or- 
leans is built, is called the " Wet Grave," owing to the 
ravages caused by the yellow fever amongst its mixed 
population for the space of eight months in the year. 

In this part of the country the water springs up a 
foot or two from the surface of the earth, so that the 
coffins of the dead have a weight attached to them, or 
are sunk by pressure to the bottom of the watery grave. 
The more affluent orders of society build vaults, as in 
other countries ; by this means forming a dry resting 
place for a time, for the bodies of the defunct. 

The city is one hundred miles inland from the mouth 
of the Mississippi, and situated immediately on its left 
bank, and is otherwise enclosed by a vast wilderness 
of swamps, lakes, creeks, and mucky impassable fo- 
rests, through which the city is only approachable by a 
few roads or causeways, and the narrow passage of the 
Mississippi is protected by the guns of fort Saint 
Philippe, which is built upon piles. 

The whole extent of these regions is composed of 
one dead flat, save here and there an artificial bank, 
or levee de terre, which protects the soil from being 
undermined by the waters of the river and melted into 
a morass, which, during some of the floods, as well as 
the city of New Orleans itself, might some day, with 
its living and dead, be carried by piecemeal into the 
Gulf of Florida. 

This city of the swamps is visited from time to time 



FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 177 

by the forlorn and sallow-faced squatters, the bear- 
hunters and the back-woodsmen coming down the river 
as they do from their remote settlements or log-houses, 
which are merely constructed with a few trunks of trees ; 
and some of these log-houses are situated in such 
marshy places, that it is necessary for the squatter to 
have the rough outlines of a boat ready at hand to 
place his chattels therein in case of a sudden in- 
undation. 

In these arks or boats, # these men descend the Mis- 
sissippi in a few days to New Orleans, where the arks 
are sold or bartered away, to be used as fire-wood, 
coffins, or for other domestic purposes. Thus disposed 
of, whole months are consumed by these pilgrims in 
exploring their way, whence they came, either knee- 
deep and wading through marshes, or paddling in a 
light canoe, or drawing a boat with ropes against the 
current of the river to the hut of their seclusion, which 
is generally far removed from society or the haunts of 
man. 

And, although ten or twelve days might have 
brought them down the river, yet its navigation is so 
beset with difficulties as to require months travel or 
voyage to regain that quarter of the globe which in- 
dividually they may have emerged from. 

* The steam-boats now plying on the Mississippi must change the 
aspect of the river, and the back-woodsmen can ascend the current 
quicker than they come down it. 

This wonderful change in a few years will be of incalculable benefit 
for trading with the interior. 

i 3 



178 FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 

Therefore, to speak technically, the " Wet Grave" 
at this time was only approachable by him wielding a 
hostile sword, either poised through the air, assisted by 
the aerial flight of the bird of prey, or astride of the 
alligator's scaly back, to enable him to get through 
isuch a slough. 

Notwithstanding all these natural drawbacks, the 
city of New Orleans, with its valuable booty of mer- 
chandize, was craved for by the British to grasp such a 
prize by a coup de main. But information having 
reached that place through the master of a trading 
vessel from Jamaica, who there had heard that such 
an attempt was in agitation, the American government 
sent Andrew Jackson, Esq. to look out for the British, 
and to defend New Orleans . 

The British fleet was commanded by Admiral Sir 
Alexander Cochrane, who, having crossed the Gulf of 
Mexico, cast anchor off the Chandeleur Islands on the 
8th of December, 1814, near the mouth of Lac Borgne, 
where Rear- Admiral Malcolm joined on the 11th, three 
days after, with his reinforcement to the fleet. 

The land-force, including two regiments of blacks, 
on board the fleet, under the orders of Major-general 
Sir John Treane, including officers, consisted of four 
thousand seven hundred soldiers, amongst whom were 
a squadron of the fourteenth light dragoons, with 
their saddles and bridles, and other cavalry gear, ready 
to place upon the backs of American horses, so soon 
as they should be fortunate enough to obtain them. 

The anchorage of the British fleet was sixty-six or 



FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 179 

seventy miles from New Orleans by the way of Lac 
Borgne. 

The British commanders, finding that their intended 
coup de main was anticipated by the Americans, and 
that the ways, or causeways, to New Orleans were 
barricaded and defended by troops, cannon, and other 
impediments, it was resolved, in the true spirit of en- 
terprise, to enter Lac Borgne, notwithstanding the 
shoals and shallows by which its navigation was inter- 
sected ; this being the only chance still left open to 
approach the city of the swamps. And should the 
attempt succeed to obtain a firm footing, the troops 
were then to use their arms and bayonets according 
to circumstances, and from the known character of the 
Americans, there being little doubt that blood would 
flow. The sooner the British could bring the few re- 
gular troops, and the posse comitatus of the Americans 
to trial, the greater was their chance of ultimate suc- 
cess. As this mode of attack was still grounded upon 
a sort of coup de main, and possibly to bring the 
Americans to battle at fault. 

This enterprise, executed in winter time, of short 
days, and long nights, and malgre baffling winds, 
intense cold, shoals, a difficult navigation, and its 
attendant accompaniments, a more daring thought 
could not have been devised. And, as far as the ma- 
rine exertions went, there was no lack of skill or 
assistance withheld in putting it into execution. 

The 12th of December, the pinnaces, launches, 
and barges of the squadron were placed under the 



180 FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 

orders of Captain Lockyer, R. N. commander of the 
sloop Sophie, with orders to go into Lac Borgne in 
search of some vessels that had run into the lake to 
join others already there for its defence. The man-of- 
war s' boats were formed into three divisions, — one 
under Captain Montresor of the Manly, and the other 
under Captain Roberts of the Meteor. 

Before daylight, on the morning of the 13th, the 
boats, armed with carronades, entered the lake, and, 
after a pull of thirty-six hours, against the wind and 
strong currents, the boats came, on the morning of the 
14th, within sight of five American gun-vessels, which 
were moored off Saint Joseph's Island, the shallows 
preventing their running further up the lake. And 
Captain Roberts having previously taken an armed 
sloop that had attempted to join the American gun- 
boats, which were drawn out in line, the broadsides 
of this flotilla facing the advance of the British, ready 
to give battle. 

The boats, having got into more dense order, threw 
out their grapplings, to get some refreshment, within 
a short pull of the enemy's line. 

All being ready, the signal was given to advance, 
and when the boats were in good range the Americans 
pounded away ; the boats' crews cried " Give way ! " 
and cheered loudly ; hence it became a boat-race, and 
the Americans being moored in line, at least four hun- 
dred yards apart one from the other, the attacking 
boats were a good deal divided, and each boat pulling 
away wildly came to close quarters. The clouds of 



FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 181 

smoke rolled upwards, and the splashing of round and 
grape shot in the water, and the loud exhortations of 
" Give way!" presented an animated scene at mid- 
day. Captain Lockyer, in the barge of the Sea-horse, 
was first up to the mark, and his boat's crew was most 
uncourteously handled by the American commodore, 
who at first would not let Captain Lockyer get aboard, 
and a rough tussle took place ; but other boats coming 
up, the sailors, sword in hand, being covered by the 
fire from the small arms of the marines, cut away their 
defensive netting that was coiled round her decks like a 
spider's web. The British at last mastered the Ameri- 
cans, and captured all the five vessels in succession, 
making their different crews prisoners, but not before 
some of the guns of the captured vessels had been 
turned upon those that still resisted, to enable the 
boarders to complete their victory. The headmost 
vessel was the last that gave in, and Jack-tar was fain 
to brush aside his locks and turn a quid before she 
struck the colours of the Union. 

Captain Lockyer was wounded, and including naval 
and marine officers, sailors, and private marines, the4oss 
was severe, amounting, amongst the different boats' 
crews, to ninety-four killed and wounded ; and indeed the 
sailors pulling up with their heavy oars is a serious job, 
the balls knocking off their heads and piercing from 
behind is quite enough to excite the sculler now and 
then to cast a hasty glance over either shoulder to see 
what is coming next. 

The blue jackets and the red (marines) had now 



182 FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 

cleared the lake for the passage of the troops, and 
their exertions were well worthy of the old signal at 
Trafalgar. 

On the 16th the advance, under Colonel Thornton 
and Captain Sir James Gordon of the Sea-horse frigate, 
were put into boats, and took post upon the Isle aux 
Poix, a small swampy spot at the mouth of the Pearl 
River, distant thirty miles from the anchorage and 
twenty miles from the head of the Bayau Catalan, up 
which it was intended to proceed towards New Orleans. 
Major-general Keane, Admiral T. A. Cochrane, and 
Admiral Sir R. Codrington followed on the 17th, and 
took post with the troops on the Isle aux Foix. 

An officer of the marines was sent to the Chactaws, 
a tribe of Indian savages assembled on the main, to 
negociate with them for their co-operation with the 
British. Two officers were also sent with a guide to- 
wards the entrance of the Bayau Catalan, and these 
officers proceeded in a canoe up a creek, the head of 
which suddenly ceases to flow within five miles and a 
half of New Orleans. These officers, without inter- 
ruption, returned from their critical enterprise to the 
head-quarters, to report the important tidings that there 
was not yet any opposition shown at this point to pre- 
vent a landing. 

By the 21st all the land forces were concentrated 
upon the Isle au Poix, situated about equidistant from 
the anchorage of the fleet and the destined place of 
landing. The boats having experienced rough and 
severe weather of rain and frost, the sailors were a 



FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 



183 



good deal harassed by their almost supernatural exer- 
tions in putting on shore the troops at the Isle aux 
Poix, in readiness to support those who were to push 
towards New Orleans in advance. 

The morning of the 22nd, at ten o'clock, a.m., 
General Keane embarked from the Isle aux Poix in 
gun-vessels, boats, and other craft, with a force of two 
thousand four hundred soldiers, one thousand six hun- 
dred being told off in the lightest boats as a van-guard, 
and before they had sailed three miles one of the 
largest vessels grounded, and many of the other craft 
every now and then came as hard and fast on the 
shoals as if at anchor. Notwithstanding this extraor- 
dinary water scene of vessels and boats scattered far 
and wide, and although night was coming on, nothing 
daunted, General Keane and Admiral Malcolm pushed 
on with the advanced guard, and after dark they reached 
the mouth of the Bayau or Cre^k Catalan, which com- 
municates with lakes Borgne and Ponchartrain. 

Captain Travers's company of riflemen were pulled 
ahead, and seeing a fire on the right-hand side of the 
creek, and a short way within its mouth, these riflemen 
quietly stepped ashore, and making a simultaneous 
rush they contrived to capture the whole of this look- 
out American picket without a single gun of alarm 
having been discharged by either party. This spot is 
called Des Pecheurs, or the fishermen's huts, about 
sixteen miles from New Orleans. These huts are con- 
structed upon an artificial mound, which is enclosed by 
a vast swamp, covered by reeds growing ten or twelve 



184 FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 

feet in height, and tapering to a point. The stem of 
this reed is very strong, and in colour resembling a 
bamboo cane. The taking of the American picket 
was indeed the happy harbinger, and one of the main 
springs on which final success might be reckoned, 
and the spirits of the van-guard were raised accord- 
ingly. The straggling boats then dashed up the creek, 
which is enclosed on either side by a vast sea of reeds. 
Soon after day-light, a few of the troops made good 
their landing on the left-hand side of the creek, within 
seven miles of New Orleans during the previous night, 
the other boats coming up one by one. What a water 
scene was here, boats aground or straggling nearly all 
the way to the Isle aux Poix, a distance of thirty miles. 
The sailors had been in their boats for eight days and 
nights, and some of the soldiers had likewise been six 
days and nights, either on a chilly desolate island or in 
boats. Early in the day of the 23rd # one thousand 
six hundred British troops were landed within seven 
miles of New Orleans, and marching through a small 
wood they came upon more solid ground near the 

* At the city of Ghent, in Flanders, the English and the American 
commissioners were negociating off and on, to adjust the differences 
between Great Britain and the Union, from August, 1814, until the 
following 24th of December of the same year. The preliminaries of 
peace were settled at Ghent, consisting of eleven articles, on the very 
day after the British force had made good their landing in the im- 
mediate neighbourhood of New Orleans. Peace between His Bri- 
tannic Majesty and the United States of America was finally ratified 
at Washington the 17th of February, 1815. 



FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 185 

head of the Bayau, and reached a house and planta- 
tion near the bank of the Mississippi, where the same 
company of riflemen, which had taken the American 
picket the night before, now again took a major and 
twenty armed American militia-men, in coloured clothes, 
prisoners, within six miles of New Orleans, without a 
shot being discharged on either side, or an individual 
left at liberty to carry any intelligence of so wonderful 
an arrival of armed visitors so near the city. Unfor- 
tunately the captive major effected his escape, and con- 
veyed the news of the landing of the British to Orleans. 
This dashing enterprise almost rivalled, upon a small 
scale, the far-famed march of Bonaparte across the 
Alps, so renowned in history. 

Up to this moment the gun-vessels taken, the Ame- 
ricans kidnapped at the mouth of the creek, and the 
domesticated militia-men swept off and made prisoners 
around the house of a Monsieur Vilette, and all without 
a gun being exploded to stop the spring tide of good 
fortune attending the invaders' career, so honourable, 
so adventurous, and so well deserving a meed of praise. 
There had been no real link of communication between 
the American flotilla and their look-out posts, and they 
were so far separated that one body was totally uncon- 
nected with the other ; added to which there was no 
effective look-out even at the head of the creek, which 
all at once ceased to flow near this spot like the top of 
an extinguisher, and along the bank within a mile or 
two of its head, being the only contracted place or 
loop-hole where a hostile force could land, and where a 



186 FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 

handful of Americans from behind the trees might have 
annihilated those in the boats, as they straggled up the 
creek one after the other* 

The British troops now penetrated an unsightly 
marsh, whose pools and deep creeks were canopied 
over with the putrid exhalations from the swamps ; 
and these desolate regions were without doubt the ren- 
dezvous of the universe for wild ducks, and the resort 
of hideous and floundering alligators that pop their 
heads up and down as plentiful as bullfrogs in some 
stagnant pools. 

These swamps, now chilly and cold, in summer time 
present a different aspect, the temperature being as hot 
as an oven, and generating myriads of large mosquitos, 
which pierce the legs with their stings, even through a 
pair of Russia-duck trousers. 

All the difficulties were now over, and a flat open plain, 
with a swampy cypress and pine-wood was on the right 
hand, and the Mississippi river, twice as broad as the 
Thames (at Westminster Bridge,) on the left, and the 
open city of New Orleans five miles and a half in front, 
where the American citizens and their helps were 
peaceably and unconsciously serving behind their coun- 
ters, in their stores or shops : there was not a single ob- 
stacle worthy of naming to stop the march of the soldiers. 
And here did one thousand six hundred British troops 
halt, with their knapsacks on, their arms in their hands, 
at mid-day the 23d of December, within sight of an in- 
significant skeleton, or rather the outline of a sham 
crescent battery, thrown up by the side of the high 



FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 187 

road to New Orleans, which was said to possess two 
pieces of cannon; a common ditch, such as is often 
seen in low grounds, extended one thousand yards from 
behind the outlines of this battery to the swampy wood 
as described, which might have been forded or crossed 
with planks, as an abundance of such materials was 
at hand, even supposing the gunners of these two 
pieces of cannon were invincible. But it never has 
been proved that these gunners were even at the 
battery ready to serve these guns ; — that there was a 
ball or a round of ammunition, or even a handspike at 
the battery at the time in question. But this is a sub- 
ject unworthy to descant or to dwell upon; for putting 
aside the great service that these two pieces of cannon 
would have been in the hands of the British, had they 
been at once taken possession of; Fortune is a female, 
as military and other writers attest ; neglect her to-day 
and she vanishes to-morrow. The hand of fortune 
beckoned the ruddy strangers from the old country to 
embrace a prize, and such a prize as is seldom offered 
gratis in war. But the soldiers of Washington were 
now of marble temperature, and almost as immovable 
as the Egyptian pyramids. Speaking historically, with 
outstretched arms did the slighted maid of Orleans, 
with blind and even neglected zeal, often turn the 
balance in favour of the strangers. But, alas ! the 
maid might as well have implored the tide to cease to 
flow as to move the British troops, who now acted as 
if they were metamorphosed into fixtures, or were 
bound by some magic spell. 



188 FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 

Therefore, up to this never-to-be-obliterated crisis, 
Andrew Jackson, Esquire, was virtually surprised, and 
the city of New Orleans, with its rich merchandize, and 
its flock, speaking many tongues, which had been con- 
signed to his protection, was within an ace of encoun- 
tering a much more inglorious fate than Washington 
(the seat of Congress and the heart's core of the Union) 
had met with a few months before by some of the same 
British troops now standing hood-winked at the open 
portals of New Orleans. 

By this it would appear that the fair fame of Andrew 
Jackson, Esquire, was not hanging on a thread, 
or on the turn of a straw, but rested merely on the 
caprice and pleasure of the British general. There was 
still five hours' light ; but the whole day was lost, and 
the troops halted at the very time they ought to have 
gone on. Two American vessels were seen anchored up 
the river, but no notice was taken of them, or rather no 
preparations were made to receive them should they slip 
their cables, although the spot which the British were 
now holding was a contracted space of ground within 
a few hundred yards of the Mississippi. One staff 
officer (now Lieut.-Col. Evans, the present M.P. for 
Westminster,) advised that time should be taken by 
the forelock ; that the British troops should make an 
instantaneous advance ; but his voice was nought in the 
balance of the military scale, and his supposed hasty 
opinions were overruled by his seniors. 

In the afternoon a few armed American horsemen 
came up the main road from New Orleans, which runs 



FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 189 

parallel with the river, to take a peep at a company of 
English riflemen who were pushed out from the main 
body as a picket, and who had taken almost as many 
American prisoners as its own original numbers. This 
picket was relieved by Captain Hallen's company. A 
few shots were discharged by the riflemen at the Ame- 
rican horsemen, who were dressed in coloured clothes, 
wearing broad beavers, and armed with long duck guns, 
rifles, or any other weapons of defence first coming to 
hand. After this reconnoisance they wheeled about 
and took post behind the outlines of the aforesaid 
crescent battery. But Andrew Jackson, Esquire, hav- 
ing had a respite, briefly gathered his men into some 
order ; and knowing that Orleans, the present scene of 
tumult, was no place to fight, in fact no place of 
defence, now seized as it were a sledge-hammer, and 
after the manner of grasping a truncheon, invoked Mars 
to waive military forms or etiquette, and at once resolved 
to figure as a war general. 

Night was now coming on apace ; and the British 
troops already landed consisted of the fourth regiment, 
or King's own, the eighty-fifth light infantry regiment, 
and five companies of the ninety-fifth, or rifles, with 
two light three-pounders, and a few military artificers. 
These soldiers were lounging about ; and as the boats 
had returned to extricate those left aground in the lake 
and those already landed having no retreat, it might 
have been conjectured that, like one of Caesar's legions 
of old, they would have felled trees, or made some 
strong hold in case of exigencies, as a point d'appui, 



190 FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 

as they were determined to halt. But no such thing 
was done, although, as before stated, an impassable 
morass lay behind them. 

Fires now blazed in the bivouac and all around 
Monsieur Villerey's house, and many lights shewed 
the dark outlines of men passing to and fro, and 
busily employed cooking in the kettles belonging to 
the slaves of the plantation — the surrounding adjacents 
being shrouded and overcast with the gloom of night. 
Some of the soldiers were asleep, whilst others were 
partaking of a warm meal after a long fastc 

In this happy state of security his Britannic majesty's 
troops were indulging, their arms piled, and each 
soldier looking after his little immediate necessities. 
Their van-guards were in front at the usual military 
distance ; when, at eight o'clock, a heavy splash in the 
river was distinctly heard by some of the troops. This 
soon proved to be the American sloop which had been 
seen up the river, of fourteen guns ; and after dark 
coming down, now let go her anchor, and swinging 
round her head to the current, with her broadside 
facing, within a few hundred yards of the bivouac, 
where the fires, like so many land-marks or beacons 
enabled the Americans to point their guns accordingly. 
But the sloop being shrouded by the robe of night, the 
carousers ashore were quite ignorant and heedless of 
the heavy splash in the water. All being pre- 
pared on board the sloop, and vice versa all being 
unprepared on shore, a sonorous voice was heard to 
exclaim, in broad English, (as if rising out of the waters 



FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 191 



of the Mississippi,) u Now, d — n their eyes, give it 'em /* 
And as the flashes from the cannon reflected for a mo- 
ment the outlines of the ominous sloop on the water, 
so plunged the round and grape-shot like so many 
thunder-bolts amongst the astounded troops, the balls 
boring down whole piles of arms, knocking kettles off 
the fires, scattering blazing beams of wood about, 
maiming some soldiers, and sending others whence no 
traveller returns. 

This w T as enough to put one of Csesar's legions in a 
panic ; and, if from such an astounding fact, the troops 
had even retired, could it be wondered at ? But no ; they 
were veterans and brave troops ; and, probably, a more 
trying situation seldom happens. The levee de terre, or 
bank of the river, being only three feet above the level 
of the water, was no screen In the first instance ; and 
thus, round after round, and ball after ball, were vo- 
mited forth, driving the troops into most dire con- 
fusion, which caused a ten-fold panic during the 
darkness, and the confusion beggars all description ; no 
mob could be in a more utter state of disorganization. 
Some took shelter under the bank of the river, behind 
the house, or any other place of refuge nearest at hand, 
to screen themselves from the ferocious visitation. 
Officers were buckling on their swords, and throwing 
down knives and forks, and calling on their soldiers. 
Soldiers were looking after their arms or buckling on 
their knapsacks, and calling to their officers. Bugle- 
horns were sounding, while the soldiers were striving to 



192 FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 

gather together, or to make some sort of formation ; 
and all the time under the fire of this floating battery 
at point-blank range, and without any effective aim 
to silence these seven noisy monsters, the fire of which 
was assisted, when some of the fires were extinguished, 
by the confusion of voices amongst the soldiers. The 
balls of the American sloop thus made the British 
head-quarters the most dangerous post, being, indeed, 
a most rare occurrence to happen ; and had it not been 
for the very acceptable bank of the river, and other 
adjacents, affording opaque skreens, or a rallying point 
for the disjointed troops from the murderous projectiles 
falling all around them, the consequences might have 
been more serious. 

This novel way of assembling, or rather of scattering, 
the organized bands of discipline, and veterans to boot, 
was a war intonation, which effectively did away with 
the old system of the beating of drums, or the bugle 
horns sounding " Turn out the whole," as practised on 
sudden cases of emergency. And can it be wondered 
at that this floating battery of heavy calibre, like an 
assassin, shrouded in darkness, or whose form is 
concealed in the ample folds of a mantle, and putting 
us in mind of the Venetian bravo, with his cloak, 
sword, and lantern, ever and anon, as he thrusts, cuts, 
and maims, with his two-edged rapier with one hand, 
while he puts forth or withdraws the other, while 
grasping a lantern, whose bright rays dazzle and con- 
found the footsteps of the benighted individual who 
may be groping his way through crooked monastic 



FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 193 

streets, when the rest of animation have sunk into 
sleepy oblivion : — can it be wondered at, then, that 
such a coarse salutation caused such great confusion and 
outcry amongst the soldiers, and to use a homely phrase, 
put the head-quarter orderly room in a great tumult ? 

Captain Hallen's company of riflemen were up and 
ready, and standing to their arms in proud array at the 
van-guard on the high road, the river protecting their 
left flank, and burning for a trial of strength with the 
long vaunted prowess of the American riflemen ; and 
were resolved to see whether the Americans could beat 
a small part of the former u light division," even with 
their own boasted weapon, the rifle, 

A company of the eighty-fifth light infantry were 
also stationed on picket at a house and garden in 
eschelon to the right, and rather in rear of Hallen's 
picket; and hearing the raging tumult in their own 
rear, with the continued roar of cannon almost in the 
same direction, they unfortunately took an erroneous 
view of passing events, and evacuated this important 
post before they had fired a single round at the Ameri- 
cans, who quietly ensconced themselves in this house 
and garden, which, until it was afterwards retaken by 
the eighty-fifth regiment, and a portion of the rifle* 
corps, formed a rallying and important post for the 
enemy, who threw out irregular bodies to annoy the 
British during the after action. Now, had Hallen, 
with his riflemen, done the same, and given up his 
post on the naked high road, (although his position, 
taken in a military point of view, was no longer safe,) 

K 



194 FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 

the result might have proved most deplorable, at a 
moment too when the alarm-post at head-quarters was 
utterly disorganized, and required a little breathing 
time to prepare for defensive or offensive operations. 

When the great tumult at head-quarters was at its 
height, a few shots were exchanged in front of Hal- 
len's vanguard. This was General Jackson coming in 
person with three thousand regular troops and militia- 
men to the fight, the latter in coloured clothes. Some 
even assert that they counted more men than here 
specified. Captain Hallen began the battle on the 
high road single-handed, against part of the seventh 
and forty-fourth American regiments, who were followed 
up by a strong body of irregulars. 

But will posterity believe it, that all their most despe- 
rate attacks failed to beat Hallen's eighty men. They 
fought foot to foot and hand to hand, and, probably, 
since the invention of gunpowder, there is no instance 
on record of two opposing parties fighting so long 
muzzle to muzzle. Here, round after round, and volley 
after volley were exchanged. But although this picket 
was unsupported, the Americans could not gain the 
vital object, that of forcing the main road. The other 
pickets having retired from Hallen's right, left his com- 
pany and its detachment isolated, like a ball of fire, 
to fight for themselves. 

Owing to this, the lumps and crowds of American 
militia, who were armed with rifles, and long hunting 
knives for close quarters, now crossed the country ; and 
by degrees getting nearer to the head-quarters of the 



FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 195 



British, they were met by some companies of the rifle- 
corps and the eighty-fifth light infantry ; and here 
again such confusion took place as seldom occurs in 
war — the bayonet of the British and the knife of the 
American were in active opposition at close quarters 
during this eventful night, and, as pronounced by the 
Americans, it was " rough and tumble." 

The darkness was partially dispelled for a few mo- 
ments, now and then, by the flashes of fire-arms ; and 
whenever the outlines of men were distinguishable, the 
Americans called out " don't fire, we are your friends !" 
prisoners were taken and retaken. The Americans 
were litigating and wrangling, and protesting that they 
were not taken fairly, and were hugging their fire-arms 
and bewailing their separation from a favourite rifle 
that they wished to retain as their lawful property. 

The British soldiers likewise, hearing their mother- 
tongue spoken, were captured by this deception • when 
such mistakes being detected, the nearest American 
received a knock-down blow ; and in this manner pri- 
soners on both sides having escaped, again joined in 
the fray, calling out lustily for their respective friends. 
Here was fighting, and straggling flashes of fire 
darting through the gloom, like the tails of so many 
comets. 

At this most remarkable night-encounter the British 
were fighting on two sides of a ragged triangle, their 
left face pounded by the fire from the sloop, and 
their right face engaged with the American land -force. 
Hallen was still fighting in front at the apex. 

k 2 



196 FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 

At one time the Americans pushed round Hallen's 
right, and got possession of the high road behind him, 
where they took Major Mitchell and thirty riflemen 
going to his assistance. But Hallen was inexorable, 
and at no time had more than one hundred men at his 
disposal ; the riflemen coming up from the rear by twos 
and threes to his assistance, when he had lost nearly 
half his picket in killed and wounded. And behind 
him was such confusion that an English artillery officer 
declared that the flying illumination encircling him was 
so unaccountably strange that had he not pointed his 
brass cannon to the front at the beginning of the fight, 
he could not have told which was the proper front 
of battle, (as the English soldiers were often firing one 
upon the other, as well as the Americans,) except by 
looking towards the muzzle of his three-pounder, which 
he dared not fire, from the tear of bringing down friends 
and foes by the same discharge ; seeing, as he did, the 
darkness suddenly illuminated across the country by the 
flashing of muskets at every point of the compass. 

At last, after three hours struggling, the Americans 
gave way, finding that the main body of their force 
could not gain possession of the high road; for the 
defence of which Hallen, who was badly wounded, and 
his brave company deserve great applause, being the 
only troops engaged, that steadily maintained their 
original front throughout the night. 

All this scrambling contest fell principally upon the 
five companies of the green rifle-corps, composed of 
four hundred men, and the eighty-fifth regiment of 



FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 197 

light infantry, in all about one thousand strong. These 
fifteen companies lost in killed, wounded, and pri- 
soners, two hundred and twenty-seven men out of 
the gross loss of this night, which was two hundred 
and forty-eight men. 

The fourth regiment, or king's own, were in reserve, 
and only suffered a trifling loss ; and one hundred and 
thirty of the ninety-third highlanders, and four com- 
panies of the twenty-first, or royal north British fusi- 
leers, came up from the boats at the close of the fight, 
and proved a seasonable reserve at that crisis, this 
additional force swelling the British force to two thou- 
sand men, by merely deducting the already named loss, 
so that, at the end of the night's combat, the British 
mustered one hundred and fifty effective men more 
on the ground than when they began the action. 

Neither ancient nor modern history can show a 
parallel resistance made against General Jackson by 
Captain Hallen and his company, and all the honour 
and glory is due to him and his lieutenants and sol- 
diers for this heroic defence with such small means, 
and so much exposed as they were against such supe- 
rior odds, at a time too when the main body of the 
British were nothing more or less than a confused mob 
in uniform, and coming forward to engage the Ame- 
ricans by twentys and thirtys, or smaller numbers, 
as they could be scraped together, to be ready to 
engage, the eighty-fifth and the rifles being mixed 
together in one mass of confusion, and at one spot 
they formed behind some thin palings, the Americans 



198 



FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 



on the other, engaged them muzzle to muzzle, every 
bullet piercing these frail defences, which only served 
as a shallow screen to separate friends and foes, who 
called to one another in English, and on more than one 
occasion, two enemies with loaded pieces were obliged 
to hold a parley in the dark before either of them 
could venture to pull a trigger in the other's face. 

Here was, indeed, the old Shomcliffe style of chal- 
lenging of " advance one, and give an account of 
yourself;" as an old soldier once questioned an officer, 
whom he well knew, by demanding " who served the 
regiment with pipe-clay !" 

However, this singular night-combat finished by the 
Americans sustaining a galling loss in killed, wounded, 
and some prisoners ; and after three hours' firing, hal- 
looing, and shouting, within about the space of a square 
mile, they were thoroughly routed, and the little order they 
possessed when first coming on was totally evaporated, 
and now in turn they were in the most deplorable state 
of disorganization, a perfect rabble, and flying in all 
directions, and here and there groups were encumbered 
with their numerous wounded, perfect strangers as 
many of these Americans were one to the other, who 
were now scattered over the fields which were here and 
there intersected with drains and ditches for the irri- 
gation of different plantations. 

And, however droll it may seem to recount, Ge- 
neral Jackson, as a last resource, laid hold of some 
of his posse comitatus that were wandering about in 
utter darkness, and implored them to sit down one by 



FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS, 



199 



one, in a row along the edge of the aforesaid ditch, 
ten feet wide, where most probably not an American 
would have stopped, if their sinking courage had not 
been upheld by the flashes and the reports from the 
guns of the sloop which played throughout the night 
into the bivouac of the British. The Americans were 
in such utter route, that straggling persons extended to 
the very portals of New Orleans. 

The British having won the victory had no more to 
do than to follow it up, at latest the next morning at 
daylight, when they would have found more real secu- 
rity under the windows of New Orleans than allowing 
themselves to be tamely besieged (an odd term to use 
of troops in an open bivouac) at a time when they 
might have acted on the offensive with so much less 
danger to themselves than continuing in their exposed 
position. 

However, the morning of the 24th broke sluggishly, 
and the smoking ports of the sloop (it was a sore thorn 
in the side of the British head-quarters) still pro- 
jected its iron thunder amongst the besieged, — for 
how can persons be designated otherwise under such 
circumstances? The British troops would have been 
too glad to have been ordered to advance from a spot 
where they were so annoyed. And, by marching on 
the skirts of the wood on their right, they might have 
reached New Orleans free from harm of any conside- 
ration at the distance of a mile from the American 
sloop and the ship of sixteen guns, and also nearly 
three quarters of a mile from the crescent battery, 



200 FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 

which being isolated, and once turned, would have been 
no longer tenable. 

As a proof thereof, this field-work, which was open 
from behind, in the end swelled into importance, as a 
sort of memento of the utter want of enterprise on the 
part of the British general. And in front of this battery 
hinged a series of military manoeuvres more remarkable 
than perhaps is to be shown in the annals of the world. 
And, alas, it proved too true that insignificant objects 
are not to be despised, and left to be captured at the 
will and pleasure of the dilatory. 

The whole of this day was lost by the British general 
and thereby gained by his opponent, the former pre- 
ferring to keep his troops under an irritating fire rather 
than move on. Every five minutes gained by the 
Americans was of vital importance, and every hour 
lost by the British who were waiting for reinforcements 
was the coming death-blow to their final hopes of suc- 
cess ; for fresh troops and guns were in like manner 
coming from a distance to the assistance of General 
Jackson, and the hopes of the Americans w T ere ex- 
cited, supposing the British were really crippled, which 
was not the case. The whole of this day most of the 
people now placed under martial law in New Orleans 
were anxiously looking for the entrance of the British, 
minute after minute, and were lost in chagrin and 
amazement when night again closed without their en- 
trance into the city. 

By the morning of the 25th all the scattered remains 
of the British force were landed by piecemeal, hour 



FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 201 

after hour, from the Isle aux Poix, owing to the pro. 
digious exertions of the sailors. All eyes were still 
cast on the American schooner, whose sides still smoked 
by day, and at night vomited iron harbingers from 
its ports into the bivouac of the British, so that, in 
point of fact, the city of New Orleans and General 
Jackson now became only a secondary consideration^ 
and the discussion was how to get rid of this watery 
dragon ; for the destruction of which heavy guns were 
sent for to the fleet, if possible, to blow her out of the 
water. 

General Jackson profiting by this floating deception, 
placed there to allure the British general, took advan- 
tage of his own manoeuvre, which fortunately for him 
had the desired effect; and he prolonged the broad 
ditch by making a cut across the high road to the bank 
of the Mississippi, about one hundred yards behind the 
crescent battery on the high road. 

This work was executed as a sort of forlorn hope to 
save New Orleans even for a day. And behind this 
cut and the ditch the American general, with the most 
prompt despatch, constructed a barricade of nearly three 
quarters of a mile in length, extending from the Mis- 
sissippi on his right to the impassable wood on his left, 
all across a flat and naked plain, and within a few 
hundred yards of the British out-guards. 

The manner of putting this barricade together was 
most curious, as in the first instance detached barrels 
and sugar casks were brought up and left here and there 
standing isolated, the apertures between them being 

k 3 



202 FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 

filled up with mud and all sorts of odds and ends 
placed along the edge of the ditch so as to form a 
temporary screen to protect the defenders against 
musketry; the barricade being hardly breast high, 
looked like some contemptible expedient, but the ditch 
ten feet wide and two or three feet deep protected this 
barricade in front, making a pretty tolerable field 
position in the first instance. 

Four heavy pieces of cannon were now in the 
crescent battery, which made it somewhat more respect- 
able. The rude barricade as a war stratagem was 
botched together in a sore straggling way, but was 
added to and improved in strength from hour to hour, 
and the interstices betwixt the casks and other crevices 
of these rough and ready materials were caulked up 
with mud and other materials first coming: to hand. 
All this labour was executed without any annoyance 
from the British advanced posts, and actually within 
one mile and a quarter of their head-quarters, by a 
defeated mass of peasantry, who only stood their ground 
because no one molested them. And perhaps history 
affords no example of a similar expedient being exe- 
cuted under such circumstances across a naked plain. 

In this state of things, after the landing by the Bri- 
tish had been made good for forty-eight hours, Major- 
general the Hon. Sir Edward Packenham landed, ac- 
companied by Major-general Gibbs, on the 25th, under 
a fire of balls from the schooner. 

Sir E. Packenham taking the supreme command, 
having been sent from England for that purpose, 



FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 203 

now examined the plain, which resembled an isthmus or 
tongue of land, and General Jackson having made a 
temporary barricade as described from the river to the 
swampy wood behind the celebrated ditch, now con- 
verted the British position into a sort of cul de sac. 

Sir E. Packenham at once gave vent to his feelings, 
declaring that troops were never found in so strange a 
position, the Mississippi from eight hundred to a thou- 
sand yards in breadth on their immediate left flank, an 
impassable wood on the right, within less than three 
quarters of a mile, the Americans in front, and the fleet 
only supplying boats to carry off one-third of the force 
collected on the spot. 

Sir E. Packenham augured an ominous result, and 
every officer and soldier in the bivouac heard these 
opinions, which were given in no measured terms. 
The happy moment had passed, but was not irretrievably 
lost. Notwithstanding these opinions, which had been 
publicly fulminated throughout the bivouac, and even 
agains this own judgement, Sir E. Packenham declared 
that as the troops were on the spot he would do his 
best to get them out of the jeopardy in which he had 
found them, by persisting in the attack. But strange 
to relate, Sir Edward failed to make an instantaneous 
advance, and set himself down to lay siege to the 
American schooner, the destruction of which, as before 
stated, had no more to do with the capture of New Or- 
leans than the most foreign thing in nature; besides, 
a ship with more guns lay higher up the river to dispute 



204 



FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 



the further march on the city by the road, which was 
no more necessary to take than the sloop in question. 

There was no harm in blowing both of them up as 
soon as possible, but there was no occasion for the 
whole army to await the event; for while time was lost 
in disposing of these annoyances, the barricade was 
rising out of the earth like enchantment as a real stop- 
page to take the place of an imaginary one. 

But putting aside experience in the field, it might have 
been supposed that not one of these three English 
generals had ever perused Csesar's Commentaries, or 
had ever contemplated the remains of a Roman camp. 

The rapid movements of Napoleon Bonaparte in 
these modern days were fresh upon the recollection of 
every one — did he halt when the enemy were in view, 
or when winning a victory did he cease to follow 
it up? But here the rapidity of Bonaparte or the 
defensive lines of a Csesar were both alike disregarded. 

The various houses were not barricaded or loop-holed, 
nor were trees felled or abattis formed by the British in 
case of a reverse, for the troops having been brought up 
as described by dribblets in a body, they had no retreat, 
therefore it behoved the general more particularly to form 
a strong hold either to give a greater disposable force 
for attack, to cover any hostile landing that might be 
made from the right bank of the Mississippi, or in like 
manner to cover a retreat if necessary. 

Here, now, were three British generals (two already 
having had the supreme command) known for their 



FIKST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS, 205 

personal courage in the field, and in the prime of man- 
hood. But all their movements bespoke that their 
usual energies had succumbed to the trammels of inde- 
cision, and to difficulties before them that only existed 
in their own imaginations. 

This square mile was therefore ultimately digged into 
holes and became the soldiers' burial place without 
prayers, coffins, or tomb-stones, and more than five 
hundred men were put hors de combat over and above 
the original sixteen hundred that landed the first day, 
and that number alone at first strong enough to have 
accomplished the conquest in question. 

And in the sequel, the deplorable consequences of 
indecision at this remarkable spot of ground will 
figure in history and generate the most gloomy senti- 
ments, like those that cross the mind in the sable 
chamber of death, or while gently drawing aside the 
velvet pall from the marble-like features of a departed 
friend, who once smiled in worldly vanity. 

It has been proved that General Jackson had not 
spent his time idly, for in the first instance, having 
been caught napping, he had shown his profound mili- 
tary and naval skill as a gifted tactician on the night 
of the 23d, by counter-manceuvring and putting the 
reserve of the British to the very acme of disorder 
before their front was attacked, a victory which was 
only lost to the American general owing to the indivi- 
dual bravery of the British veteran troops over his raw 
levies. General Jackson throughout the operations 
displayed the art of the engineer, combining at the 



206 FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 



same time the talent of the wary politician, and the 
polish of the finished negotiator, and wielding the wea- 
pons of war with vigorous decision, and with his pen 
finally transmogrifying an after defeat to his own ad- 
vantage. He had amused the British generals for 
the space of four days and nights with a blustering 
fire from the sloop, he had turned every moment to his 
own account, brought up cannon to the barricades, and 
caused planking to be laid down for heavy artillery 
behind the ditch. And although the profile of the 
crescent battery, and the long line of naked barricade, 
and its rough exterior face, was not chiselled by the 
mason, and might have been laughed at by a Vauban, 
yet the sight of its smoking face caused the British 
general to halt. 

The little British phalanx were again re-modelled 
into two brigades, the one under General Gibbs, con- 
sisting of the fourth, twenty-first, and forty-fourth re- 
giments, with the fifth West India black corps. 

The second, commanded by Major-general Keane, 
consisted of the eighty-fifth light infantry, the ninety- 
third highlanders, the remains of the five companies of 
the rifle-corps, with the first West India black corps. 
Colonel Dixon directed the royal artillery, and the 
squadron of the fourteenth light dragoons not being yet 
mounted, were employed about the hospitals or other 
head-quarter purposes. 

A battery was now scooped out, a quarter of a mile 
in front of the sugar plantations, for the purpose of 
heating balls, to relieve the head-quarters from the 



FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 



207 



eternal fire of the American schooner. The construc- 
tion of this battery was judicious, not only for the 
purposes for which it was intended, but as a check 
against any more craft from venturing down the river to 
encrease the fire on the bivouac. 

But, although the formation of this battery was 
going on behind the levee de terre of the river, still 
it was no reason whv the British force should have been 
detained from verging along the edge of the forest, to 
overturn General Jackson's newly raised barricade, 
or, at least, attempting to do so when in its infancy, 
in preference to delays, which would only add to its 
growth, and bring it to strength and maturity. 

The 27th, the besieged blew up the American sloop 
from the battery with hot balls, and her timbers floated 
down the turbid waters of the Mississippi, but not 
before her crew had taken to their boats and got safely 
ashore. 

This explosion afforded no small satisfaction to all 
parties at the sugar plantation, and was hailed by the 
soldiers as a great relief after a four days irritating and 
vexatious cannonade, attending them both asleep and 
awake ; the more particularly as the ship took warn- 
ing at the loss of her consort, and was seen warping 
higher up the river. The timbers of the American 
sloop having well nigh reached the Gulf of Mexico, 
on the morning of the 28th, at day-break, General 
Gibbs, with his brigade, advanced towards the left of 
the American barricades, and General Keane in like 
manner along the high road parallel to the river, un- 



208 FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 

housing an American picket from a building a few 
hundred yards in front of their crescent battery, which 
the enemy set on fire to make more smoke. 

General Keane's brigade were steadily advancing, the 
rifle-corps leading, but when within good cannon range, 
the crescent battery, with full charge of powder and 
ball, resounded a loud defiance, and some cannon balls, 
striking the centre of the middle regiment of the British, 
knocked down the soldiers, and tossed them into the 
air like old bags. This column, to the utter astonish- 
ment of officers and soldiers, was ordered to halt just 
as their blood was up ready for the usual rush. And 
the light field-pieces began an interchange with the 
once insignificant crescent battery. The American 
ship of sixteen guns now threw its broadside obliquely 
in conjunction with the guns of the battery in front, 
that nearly destroyed all the artillery-men working the 
two British guns, and soon stopped their remonstrances, 
which a few sailors finally dragged off the field of con- 
tention, the gunners being nearly all killed or wounded. 
At first, the centre of the column on the high road was 
thrown into some confusion, but was soon restored to 
order. The ninety- third highlanders, from their great 
steadiness, were the universal talk and admiration, and 
stood to be fired at as steadily as so many American 
targets. The brigade were deployed into line, and 
ordered to lie down, and during the day part of the 
British troops retired by degrees, both of Gen. Gibbs's 
and Keane's brigades, leaving the rifles behind to be 
fired at like so many stumps of trees. 



FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 209 



This affair was called, to soften it off, a reconnoisance: 
these technical phrases are often used in war to cover 
broader confessions. This reconnoisance, as the phrase 
went, cost the British well nigh fifty men, principally 
by grape and cannon shot, without accomplishing any 
good, and causing a bad morale to creep into the 
ranks at a time when the superiors were positively 
forced to promise the soldiers satisfaction, to stop their 
loud vociferations and complaints at not being allowed 
to go on. The Americans seeing the backs of the 
red-coats were elated accordingly, and were almost 
inclined to make a sortie. Indeed a few shots were 
fired by the rifles to stop some men in coloured clothes 
coming out of the barricade, who had advanced beyond 
the crescent battery. 

The head-quarters were again established as before, 
one mile and a half from the enemy's lines. More 
cannon of heavy calibre were sent for from the fleet, 
making one hundred and twenty miles going and 
coming. Admirals Sir Alexander Cochrane, Sir P. 
Malcolm, and Sir E. Codrington, Captains Sir Thomas 
Hardy, Sir T. Trowbridge, Sir James Gordon, with 
others, used the greatest efforts to assist with a ready 
hand in the superintendence of the bringing up provi- 
sions, ammunition, and in conveying to the fleet the 
maimed and wounded. Most of these officers came up 
to head-quarters, indeed the head-quarters of the troops 
presented a busy scene seldom witnessed in those 
lonely regions. 

The Americans, guessing that they were to be at* 



210 



FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS, 



tacked in a formal way, laboured hard at their barri- 
cades, and also proved themselves apt scholars after 
the previous firing of artillery, and so forth ; they began 
to shape their entrenchment into something respectable, 
but were still obliged to adhere to the direct line of the 
ditch ; but from practice seeing that the face of their 
barricades should be protected by a cross fire, they 
established a battery of twelve pieces of cannon on the 
right or opposite bank of the Mississippi, to enfilade 
the whole face of their crescent battery, and also across 
the country, in front of their long line of barricades. 
The ship of sixteen guns was warped higher up the 
river to preclude the possibility of her being fired by 
hot shot. Large cotton bags were brought in carts 
from New Orleans of two feet in diameter, and nine in 
length, to form epaulments, and to flank the em- 
brasures of the American batteries. In fact, no ex- 
pedient was neglected on the part of General Jackson 
to profit largely by the long and unexpected truce 
given him. 

A battery having been erected by the British seven 
hundred yards from the crescent battery of the Ame- 
ricans, on the 1st of January, 1815, His Britannic 
majesty's troops were again ordered to advance. But a 
dense white fog for a time obscured all objects, and was 
one of the luckiest circumstances that could have hap- 
pened for the advantage of the attacking body. And when 
it cleared off, the heavy guns of the British opened with 
such effect, that most of the Americans deserted the 
crescent battery, and a great deal of confusion happened 



FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 211 

within their main lines, and this being the first time 
they had felt the effects of round shot of any magni- 
tude, many of them went off towards New Orleans, 
and the bravest of them crouching behind their 
epaulments ready to stand up to repel the expected 
assault. And for more than ten minutes they did 
not fire a gun, the British cannoniers having all to 
themselves. And a whole brigade of infantry close 
at hand, burned to be ordered on to the assault, 
and w T ith loud words demanded why they were not 
led on, when ladders and other materials had been 
brought up for the passage of that ditch. But 
to their utter astonishment no such order was given, 
and there is no doubt that the British troops, rushing 
on under cover of their guns w T ith a few planks, would 
have obtained possession of the enemy's works with 
facility. 

The Americans, seeing that no one came to molest 
them, first opened one gun, then a second, until all 
their artillery was subsequently manned, when the weak 
defences of the British mud battery were pierced through 
and through, some of its guns dismounted, and a fresh 
batch of artillerymen nearly all killed and wounded; 
its fire was silenced, and at night the residue of its guns 
were either dragged away and others buried. The 
troops were kept again like targets all day, under a 
galling cross fire from the right bank of the river. 

Now what this battery was erected for, unless to 
cover the assault of the works by the troops, is more 
than mortal man can explain. For it is well known to 



212 



FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 



infantry that one company would throw up earth 
enough in a night, squatting down behind which, they 
would deride all the cannon in Christendom fired by 
salvos. Thus ended the second siege of the crescent 
battery. 

And would it be believed that night again saw the 
head-quarters of the British at the sugar plantation, a 
mystery which has never yet been solved ? 

The American malingerers and the timid, who are 
always to be found in towns and cities, as well as else- 
where, now crawled up to the barricades, and peeped 
over the epaulments and the cotton bags thereof, and 
the very fiddlers and the French horn-players from New 
Orleans struck up their notes within hearing of the 
British centinels. 

And can it be wondered at that the most extra- 
vagant reports flew through the ranks ? and amongst 
others, that the ditch in front of the American lines 
was a canal, that behind the first line were two others, 
and the edge of the ditch was proclaimed under the 
high-sounding title of a glacis, and the numbers of the 
Americans highly exaggerated — nay, that the fortification 
had existed before the troops had landed at all, and, to 
crown all, desertion began from the ranks of His Bri- 
tannic majesty's troops to the enemy. 

The British lost in the above useless displays, or 
whatever they can he called, for I cannot find a name 
for them, one hundred and forty-two, including officers 
and men, a greater number, most likely, than would have 
fallen by sending a storming party of three or four 



FIRST ATTEMPT ON NEW ORLEANS. 213 

hundred in advance to storm the works at once. Was 
this not enough to sicken the best troops in the world? 

It was now considered by the British general that the 
American barricade was too strong to attack in front 
with his present force. 

Therefore science was resorted to, and it was pro- 
posed to dig a canal of more than a thousand yards in 
extent, from the head of the bayau or creek, by 
which the troops had made their landing from Lac 
Borgne, to communicate with the Mississippi, so that a 
body of troops should be sent over the river to tread 
new ground, and to make more demonstrations against 
New Orleans, although on an opposite side of the river 
to that on which the city stood. 

And this was the state of things fifteen days after the 
first landing of the British troops; further remarks 
will be deferred for another place, save that, taking all 
in all, it did look as though the head, and shoulders, 
and trunk of the body had emerged from the slough, 
and that the lower extremities were paralysed and stuck 
in the mud. 



CHAP. IX. 



CAMP BEFORE NEW ORLEANS. 

After these details the wonder no longer can exist 
that New Orleans was not a captive city ; a sufficient 
lapse of time had been given the Americans to make 
their lines impregnable had they deemed fit to do so. 

New Orleans was now a military prize of the first 
class ; had it been taken possession of at the onset, the 
world probably would have only talked or written of it 
as a dashing marine enterprize, and the British general 
would have obtained little credit for its capture before 
its military resources had begun to bud or to expand 
into notoriety. 

General Jackson had shown himself a general of the 
first class both in attack and defence, since his first sur- 
prise. And although so far the Americans possessed the 
most consummate and able tactician, still the British ge- 
neral commanded the best troops, as they had shown them- 
selves to be on the very ground they now stood upon— 
and to say that these soldiers were the flower of the British 
army might invite a controversy ; but from discipline and 
brilliant deeds in the field their conduct could not be 



CAMP BEFORE NEW ORLEANS. 215 

surpassed ; their ranks were composed of veterans from 
Great Britain and Ireland, the very elite of His Bri- 
tannic majesty's dominions ; — men who, like the Ro- 
mans of old, had travailed with pick and spade at 
batteries and zig-zag trenches — men who had fought 
sanguinary battles in the plain, on the hill, or scaled 
the mountain- side — men who had crowned the deadly 
breach, or topped the ladder of escalade — men who 
had forded rivers under hostile balls — men who had 
fought and starved — men who had starved and fought. 

These living targets set up before the elite of the 
round-hatted Americans, was enough to instil confidence 
into their breasts, and they had let off cannon and small 
arms enough to make them ready and willing to do so 
more effectually from behind their cotton bags, should 
they be assaulted in right earnest ; and those British 
troops, that had not been in fire before, if they had 
not been sufficiently baptized at the two whole days' 
feints in front of the American barricades, must 
have been endowed with more discipline and patience 
than fall to the lot of mortality on this terrestrial 
sphere. 

But there was now a further addition of good troops 
placed on shore who had not suffered the galling and 
the unmilitary trials that their fellow-soldiers had been 
put to, not so much from the losses they had sustained 
in point of numbers, as being exposed to such slaughter 
before the enemy, where at each futile attempt the 
prospect of accomplishing the object in view seemed 
to diminish, which raised the spirit and the con- 



216 CAMP BEFORE NEW ORLEANS. 



fidence of the defenders on the one hand, while on 
the other the assailants looked at the difficulties before 
them as it were through a magnifying glass. For 
when the doors were left wide open for success, the 
soldiers were transformed by the wand of authority into 
automatons, or more properly speaking, into so many 
statues fresh from the chisel of the sculptor. 

The 7th of January, two jdays after our landing, the 
first brigade, consisting of the seventh and the forty- 
third regiments (the tw T o corps mustering under arms 
upwards of seventeen hundred bayonets) were reviewed 
in line and within long cannon range, their backs turned 
towards the enemy's lines. 

The music played, the vapour of this swamp had 
cleared off, the sun shone brilliantly, and the officers 
and soldiers of these regiments were in the highest 
spirits at the near probability of their being led on to 
the attack. 

When it was asked why the general-in-chief, Pack- 
enham, did not appear at this review as he was ex- 
pected, we were told that he was up in a tree in the 
pine-wood, examining the works of the Americans. 
Many peninsular friends of the other regiments were 
glad to see the seventh and forty-third, and greeted 
them accordingly ; but what could the royal fusileers 
and the Monmouthshire light infantry do ? 

Unquestionably each of these corps carried in their 
centre the king's standards of crimson, and their 
regimental colours of blue and white silk, which re- 
minded them of their former renown, and the hard- 



CAMP BEFORE NEW ORLEANS. 217 



earned laurels which had been so honourably gained in 
the peninsular war; the first corps having served at 
Martinique, Talavera de la Reyna, Albuera, Badajoz, 
Salamanca, Vittoria, the Pyrenees, Orthes, and Tou- 
louse, scraps of whose colours, upon its return to Eng- 
land from France, were craved for with outstretched 
hands, to be honoured with a place in the fair bosoms 
of the ladies of Devonshire. 

The second corps were alike recently transported 
from the fiery ordeal of Vimiera, Corunna, Busaco, 
Fuentes d'Onoro, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Salamanca, 
Vittoria, Nivelle, Nive, and Toulouse. 

The former regiment wore blue facings to their red 
uniforms, the latter white ; one corps used drums, the 
other bugle-horns ; each man carried sixty rounds of 
ball cartridge in his pouch, and likewise a firelock and 
bayonet, with extra flints, picker, and brush. The 
seventh wore a brass plate and white tufts in their 
caps, and the forty-third wore green tufts and the 
curved bugle-horn in their's. The former corps carried 
light blue knapsacks, and the latter black. The 
officers had swords suspended by their sides, one corps 
being decorated with gold, and the other with silver 
ornaments. But what, I repeat, could the seventh and 
the forty-third do without orders, on the sod of New 
Orleans ? for, after all, they were nothing more or less 
than machines, contre eux-memes, or were like a splen- 
did set of chess-men in the hands of those who do not 
know how to use them, or even prove themselves 
versed in the common moves of the pawns in default 

L 



218 



CAMP BEFORE NEW ORLEANS. 



of an adversary making a false move, or when the 
proper moment arrives to give him check-mate. 

] n the afternoon of this day the eighty-fifth regiment, 
(now the King's light infantry,) which was about three 
hundred and fifty strong, passed our lines from the 
front by companies, with intervals between each, as I 
had seen the light division march in Spain. These 
companies, though weak, were in excellent order, and 
proceeded towards the head-quarters to be in readiness 
to embark before daybreak the following morning. 

As the eighty-fifth passed along, it struck me that 
they looked displeased at being removed from the main 
body, and indeed one or two of the officers so ex- 
pressed themselves, saying that it would be now our 
turn to get into New Orleans, as they had done at 
Washington. This corps had not been fortunate in 
Spain, and they could not get rid of a mark that had 
been set upon them, although this regiment had been 
fresh officered similar to other corps, and remodelled 
since that time, and when employed had behaved 
quite as well as other regiments. However, do what 
they would, " the peninsular fire-eaters/' as they 
were jocosely called, would give them little or no 
credit; for, in these days, if a man had not been in 
half-a-dozen battles, from the effects of which seventy 
or eighty thousand on either side were swept off, he 
was designated as " a young hand," and bade to hold 
his peace, or to be gone with his " subaltern ideas," 
which naturally suggests the question of how many years 
the powder-mills are to be kept in requisition, or how 



CAMP BEFORE NEW ORLEANS. 



219 



many magazines are to be emptied, or where the bowels 
of the earth are to be ransacked for the supply of iron 
and lead, and what flints are to be shaped for the 
trigger before the martial ideas begin to dawn; or 
whether a pilgrimage to Pompey's pillar is necessary to 
inspire the warlike writer. 

But, after all, the result of a battle seems in the 
main-spring to be counted more than the quantity of 
men put hors de combat, as the loss of life in the 
gross is but a sorry recompense without any result, 
or when both opposing generals writing, or causing to 
be written, ingenious despatches to their respective 
governments wherein both claim the victory, and both 
implore for more ammunition and more " of the golden 
sinews of war the military chest being empty, and 
not a round left in the soldier's cartridge-boxes, to go 
at it again with " hammer and tongs." 

However, to the point. The eighty-fifth regiment will 
not be easily obliterated from the archives of America, 
although certain " peninsulars " still give them little 
quarter. When this corps crossed my vista, I must con- 
fess that I eyed these soldiers of " Bladensburgh," and 
of the previous " night combat" already told, with a 
considerable degree of curiosity. 

Some hours after dark so much noise and confusion 
took place round the head-quarters near the canal, 
that the continued buzz of voices must have been 
heard in the American lines, added to which several of 
the huts were in flames. Myself and another officer, 
being attracted by so unusual a noise, walked to the 

l 2 



220 



CAMP BEFORE NEW ORLEANS. 



bank of the river to see whether we could distinguish 
any lights in the forest on the opposite side of the 
Mississippi ; but every thing on the part of the enemy 
was dark and silent, while on our side confusion, 
revelry, and mirth prevailed, and we both agreed, on 
the dyke of the river, that things wore an aspect of an 
ominous complexion, and, like days mentioned of old, 
when the rejoicing forestalled the victory. 

And we noticed it as a most extraordinary circum- 
stance, that there was no person or centinel on the 
bank of the river employed in looking out, and at such 
remissness we were much astonished. The night was 
rather dark ; and we stood on the levee de terre of the 
river as much alone and undisturbed, although only a 
short way from the wooden-house, containing the head 
quarters and the hutted bivouac, as if there had been 
no troops within an hundred miles of the spot. I may 
reasonably be asked, how it came to pass that my- 
self and companion were on the look-out more than 
others. 

My friend was a Scotchman, who possessed an 
amiable disposition, always talking of black grouse, 
the purple heather of his native Scotch mountains, and 
was a thorough soldier ; and I flattered myself he felt 
great partiality for my society, as I did for his, and we 
had often walked together in other warlike scenes and 
far away from the hum of the bivouac, and in such 
times might have been mistaken for young antiquaries, 
as we scrambled up and down the loose stones of the 
crumbling towers of the mouldering monasteries or the 



CAMP BEFORE NEW ORLEANS. 



221 



forsaken baronial castles of Europe, or as we looked 
upwards through the lateral branches of a sheltering 
tree, with eyes wide open, on many a sleepless night, 
scanning the twinkling planets, or conjuring up carica- 
ture profiles on the half-moon. 

My friend did, indeed, love his native hills, and as a 
proof thereof he carried in his small war-portmanteau 
a tartan kilt and hose, with red rosette and flaunty 
garter, and also a handsome dirk, with a broad blade, 
like those worn by highland chieftains, and withal he 
could use the Highland claymore, or broad-sword, and 
would give point most effectively. Here were no toddy 
arguments or loquacious modern recitals of what the 
Scotch could do of old ; for he would rise from the sod 
of the bivouac, and stand without flinching upon his 
guard, and knock aside a sword's cut or thrust with 
masterly dexterity ; and many a day, I, the English- 
man, a pupil of a Frenchman, and he, a Scotchman, 
have, by the hour, stood vis-a-vis, the streams of per- 
spiration running down our faces. He loved his coun- 
try, I say, because he went to live in it as soon as he 
was released, at the end of a long war, from military 
duties. And I often used to joke him about the pic- 
turesque and tartan highland costume, asking him how 
it was that the Scotch ever hit upon so splendid a 
dress ? 

But to resume. On this eventful night, we both 
agreed in opinion that there was a looseness and 
bawling in the sugar-cane bivouac and about the 



222 CAMP BEFORE NEW ORLEANS. 



slave-huts, which we had never seen or heard before 
within sight of an enemy and on the eve of an attack ; 
besides these burnings presented a clear sign to the 
Americans that there was some commotion unusual in 
our lines, and put them on their guard for a movement 
of some sort. Further, with a foreboding which proved 
too ominous in the sequel, we agreed, to use cant phraseo- 
logy, that there was a screw loose somewhere. 

And, moreover, without being accused of speaking of 
myself imprudently, these, my opinions, may be strength- 
ened by stating that in other countries I had been 
employed on the look-out post to report the movements 
of armies larger than the small number of troops 
occupying the contracted space I now speak of. There- 
fore, according to such official etiquette, if it goes for 
anything in America, I may now give my opinion, 
I trust, without being accused of unpardonable pre- 
sumption, that, during the whole of the previous day, 
there had been a downright row in the camp. And 
it was amusing to see the non-combatants galloping 
and capering about on short-tailed American hackneys, 
as though they were bound on some sportive excursion, 
or collecting names to fill up a handy-cap for some 
contemplated horse-race ; and this gaiety was carried 
on, and might be observed by the Americans, casting 
an oblique glance from the tops of the trees just within 
the left of their lines. 

I was always a lover of festive gambols ; but the 
contrast between the past and the coming day was so 



CAMP BEFORE NEW ORLEANS. 223 



singularly remarkable, that it calls forth remarks for 
some of these lotharios, or more properly the leeches 
of the army, like vultures growing fat upon the carn- 
age of the field of battle, and now prancing about on 
their American horses, were not to be seen the fol- 
lowing day on ground ploughed up, every now and 
then, by the rusty balls from the American batteries. 
And there were some strange stories told of cer- 
tain gentlemen throwing themselves headlong into 
the boats with the wounded, declaring they were ill, 
under the care of the doctor, and worn down by 
dysentery. 

Some of the large boats, with^ carronades in their 
bows, were lying in the canal, (into which a sufficiency 
of water had not yet flowed,) which were intended 
to carry the troops across the river. Standing on 
its bank, we contemplated the probable result of 
coming events, and looked with anxiety to descry 
whether there was any light or fire kindled in the forest 
on the opposite shore, as the best way of judging 
whether the Americans were aware of the intended 
passage of the British troops to that bank of the river, 
during the night, or as soon as the boats could be got 
out ; but no such indication on the part of the Americans 
was visible; all in that direction was wrapped in sombre 
darkness. My friend and myself having staid some time 
at this spot, were of opinion that the Americans were 
on the opposite bank of the river, or their scouts at 
the supposed spot of debarkation, but had prudently 



224 



CAMP BEFORE NEW ORLEANS. 



refrained from kindling any fires, the more effectually 
to conceal their object. 

Whether they were or not, has never transpired to 
us, as there was no opposition offered near that spot 
the following morning, upon the landing of the British. 
But, undoubtedly, the Americans ought to have been 
there, and might have constructed a battery on that 
bank of the river, within the distance of little more 
than one thousand yards of our head-quarters, and by 
a constant fire they would have made the British camp 
quite untenable, and in this way might have pounded 
the left of our lines, similar to what was done by the 
sloop on the first night of landing. And why they did 
not do so is to this day quite a mystery, unless Gene- 
ral Jackson thought that by so doing he should have 
made the bivouac about the sugar-house so hot by such 
a shotted annoyance, that the British would have been 
forced to storm his lines in their own front, choosing 
that attempt as the least of two evils, and in preference 
to a perpetual cannonade ; for if they retired, they only 
got into a swamp, and if they advanced they were 
within range of the American lines. 

I had scarcely reached the bivouac from the bank 
of the river, and was about to lie down to take some 
repose, when I was ordered to join two hundred soldiers 
of my own corps at eleven o'clock at night, for the 
purpose of marching to the front to mend and guard a 
battery, within seven hundred yards of the right of the 
American lines, — in fact to the very spot close to the 



CAMP BEFORE NEW ORLEANS. 



225 



high road leading to New Orleans, where the British 
had hesitated and twice recoiled from the effects of the 
American artillery. 

As soon as we had reached this dilapidated mud 
redoubt, within point-blank range of the American 
crescent battery, both in front as well as from the 
batteries on the right bank of the river, spades were 
put into the hands of the soldiers (while others kept 
guard) to endeavour to make it tenable before daylight, 
but as the water sprang up at the depth of a foot or 
nine inches below the surface of the soft ground, 
the men were obliged to pare the surface for a 
great extent round, and to bring the shovels and 
spades dropping with mud to plaster on the queerest 
entrenchment I ever saw. In this fashion we laboured 
the latter portion of the night. And some pieces of 
cannon w T ere dragged with exceeding toil, by the 
soldiers and sailors, to place in battery. But the time 
would not permit all the platforms to be laid down. 
And,, indeed, its epaulements were not cannon-shot 
proof. The want of materials "and the short time al- 
lowed, made it impossible to make them so. Here I first 
met Lieutenant (afterwards Captain) West, of the Royal 
Engineers, a most accomplished, zealous, and intelli- 
gent officer. 

Some time before day-break I noticed the forms 
of men silently gliding past the right of the temporary 
battery, and on approaching I found them to consist 
of some of the rifle-corps who were going to the front 

l3 



226 



CAMP BEFORE NEW ORLEANS. 



to take up their ground, to watch the American lines, 
to form a chain of posts, and to be in readiness to open 
their fire a la point de jour. These riflemen were 
gliding along with the same silent footsteps as they 
were wont to do, on the eve of so many memorable 
occasions where their services had been required. 

Probably no troops that ever stood under arms could 
boast of having taken up so many dangerous and ven- 
turous posts, and of having been so often in close con- 
tact with an enemy without being detected, or without 
making any unnecessary noise in their ranks, or 
causing a lonely shot to be discharged at them, owing 
to an enemy having been prematurely alarmed. The 
out-posts, during the silent hour of night, give rise to 
a variety of solitary thoughts. How often have we 
seen the day close, and kept watch together during 
the hours of the tempest, on the snow-covered ground^ 
as well as on those brilliant nights in Spain, when the 
broad shadows of the morn lighted up the soft and 
tranquil scenery, to lull the imagination with the most 
alluring thoughts and associations of the " past, the 
present, and the future." When people talk of the 
field of battle, and the heat of the fight, how little do 
they know how many tedious hours the troops of out- 
post duties have to undergo, waiting for the whispers 
or the tread of an armed foe, or in momentary expec- 
tation of a flash of fire, or a discharge of bullets, and 
how often these troops are exposed to straggling and 
single combats for whole days. This was the case with 



CAMP BEFORE NEW ORLEANS. 



227 



the rifles, for they had always been in front, and al- 
ways called for, and before New Orleans were much 
cut up. 

These troops took up their ground according to 
orders, and were ready to attack as soon as the signal 
was given, but were extended in a useless way, and 
ranged along a front to be exposed singly to an over- 
powering fire, instead of leading the front of the small 
column destined to attack the detached half-moon 
battery on the right of the enemy's lines or barricades. 

I do not remember ever looking for the first signs of 
day-break with more intense anxiety than on this 
eventful morning ; every now and then I thought I 
heard the distant hum of voices ; then again something 
like the doleful rustling of the wind before the coming 
storm, amongst the leaves of the foliage. But no, it 
was only the effect of the momentary buzzing in my 
ears ; all was silent— the dew lay on the damp sod, and 
the soldiers were carefully putting aside their entrench- 
ing tools, and laying hold of their arms to be up and 
ready to answer the first war call at a moment's 
warning. How can I convey a thought of the in- 
tense anxiety of the mind, when a solemn and 
sombre silence is broken in upon by the intonation 
of cannon, and when the work of death begins. Now 
the veil of night w r as less obscured, and its murky 
mantle dissolved on all sides, and the mist was sweeping 
off the face of the earth ; yet it was not day, and no 
object was very visible beyond the extent of a few 
yards. The morn was chilly — I augured not of victory, 



228 



CAMP BEFORE NEW ORLEANS. 



an evil foreboding crossed my mind, and I meditated 
in solitary reflection. All was tranquil as the grave, 
and no camp-fires glimmered from either friends or 
foes. 

Soon after this the two light companies of the 
seventh and ninety- third regiments came up without 
knapsacks, the highlanders with their blankets rolled 
and slung across their backs, and merely wearing 
the shell of their bonnets, the sable plumes of real 
ostrich feathers brought by them from the Cape of 
Good Hope, having been left in England. One 
company of the forty-third light infantry also fol- 
lowed, marching up rapidly. These three companies 
formed a compact little column of two hundred and 
forty soldiers, near the vbattery on the high road to 
New Orleans. They were to attack the crescent 
battery near the river, and if possible to silence its fire 
under the muzzles of twenty pieces of cannon ; at a 
point, too, where the bulk of the British force had he- 
sitated when first they landed, and had recoiled from 
its fire on the 28th of the last December, and on the 
1st of January. I asked Lieutenant Duncan Campbell 
where they were going, when he replied, " I be hanged 
if I know:" then said I, " you have got into what I 
call a good thing ; the far-famed American battery is 
in front at a short range, and on the left this spot is 
flanked at eight hundred yards by their batteries on 
the opposite bank of the river." At this piece of infor- 
mation he laughed heartily, and I told him to take off 
his blue pelisse coat to be like the rest of the men. 



CAMP BEFORE NEW ORLEANS. 



229 



" No," he said gaily, " I will never peal for any Ame- 
rican — come, Jack, embrace me." He was a fine grown 
young officer of twenty years of age, and had fought in 
many bloody encounters in Spain and France, but this 
was to be his last, as well as that of many more brave 
men. The mist was slowly clearing off, and objects could 
only be discerned at two or three hundred yards dis- 
tance, as the morning was rather hazy ; we had only 
quitted the battery two minutes, when a Congreve 
rocket was thrown up, but whether from the enemy 
or not we could not tell ; for some seconds it whizzed 
backwards and forwards in such a zig-zag way, that 
we all looked up to see whether it was coming down 
upon our heads. The troops simultaneously halted, 
but all smiled at some sailors dragging a two-wheeled 
car a hundred yards to our left, which had brought 
up ammunition to the battery who, by common consent 
as it were, let go the shaft, and left it the instant the 
rocket was let off. (This rocket, although we did not 
know it, proved to be the signal to begin the attack.) 
All eyes were cast upwards, like those of so many philo- 
sophers, to descry, if possible, what would be the upshot 
of this noisy harbinger, breaking in upon the solemn 
silence that reigned around. During all my military 
services I never remember seeing a small body of 
troops thrown at once into such a strange configuration, 
having; formed themselves into a circle, and having 
halted, both officers and men, without any previous 
word of command, each man looking earnestly as if by 



230 CAMP BEFORE NEW ORLEANS. 



the instinct of his own imagination to see in what parti- 
cular quarter the anticipated firing would begin, canopied 
over as these soldiers were with a concave mist beyond 
the distance of two hundred yards, was impossible to 
solve. 

The Mississippi was not visible, its waters likewise 
being covered over with the fog; nor was there a 
single soldier, save our own little phalanx, to be seen, 
or the tramp of a horse or a single footstep to be heard 
by way of announcing that the battle scene was about 
to begin, before the vapoury curtain was lifted or cleared 
away for the opposing forces to get a glimpse one of 
the other. So that we were completely lost, not know- 
ing which way to bend our footsteps, and the only 
words which now escaped the officers were " steady, 
men," " steady, men," these precautionary warnings 
being quite unnecessary, as every soldier was, as it 
were, transfixed like fox-hunters, waiting with breath- 
less expectation and casting significant looks one at the 
other before Reynard breaks cover. 

All eyes seemed anxious to dive through the mist, and 
all ears were attentive to the coming moment ; as it 
was impossible to tell whether the blazing would begin 
from the troops who were supposed to have already 
crossed the river, or from the great battery of the 
Americans on the right bank of the Mississippi, or 
from their main lines. From all these points we 
were equidistant, and within point blank-range; and 
were left, besides, totally without orders and without 



CAMP BEFORE NEW ORLEANS. 



231 



knowing how to act or where exactly to find our own 
corps, just as if we had not formed part and parcel of 
the army. 

The rocket had fallen probably into the Mississippi ; 
all was silent, nor did a single officer or soldier attempt 
to shift his foot-hold, so anxiousty was the mind taken 
up for the first intonation of the cannon to guide our 
footsteps, or as it were to pronounce with loud peals 
where was the point of our destination, well knowing 
that to go further to the rear was not the point to find 
our regiment. This silence and suspense had not lasted 
more than two minutes, when the most vehement firing 
from the British artillery began opposite the left of the 
American lines, and before they could even see what 
objects they were firing at, or before the intended at- 
tacking column of the British were properly formed to 
go on to the assault. The American artillery soon 
responded with their cannon, and thus it was that the 
gunners of the English and the Americans were firing 
through the mist at random, or in the supposed di- 
rection whence came their respective balls through 
the fog. And the first objects we saw, enclosed as we 
were in this little world of mist, were the cannon-balls 
tearing up the ground and crossing one another, and 
bounding along like so many cricket-balls through the 
air, coming on our left flank from the American batteries 
on the right bank of the river, and also from their lines 
in our front. 

At this momentous crisis a droll occurrence took 
place ; a company of blacks emerged out of the mist, 



232 



BATTLE IN FRONT 



carrying ladders, which were intended for ths three 
light companies of the left attack, but these Ethiopians 
were so confounded at the multiplicity of noises, that 
without further to do they dropped the ladders and fell 
flat on their faces, and without doubt, had their claws 
been of sufficient length, they would have scratched 
holes and buried themselves from such an unpleasant 
admixture of sounds and concatenation of iron pro- 
jectiles, which seemed at war one with the other, 
coming from two opposite directions at one and the 
same time. 

To see the ladders put on the shoulders of these poor 
creatures, who were nipped by the cold, excited our 
greatest astonishment, knowing that it requires the 
very elite of an army for such an undertaking.; for 
soldiers that will place ladders under a heavy fire are 
capable of anything, as it requires the most desperate 
efforts to lug them along over broken ground, ditches, 
and other obstacles, the men all the while falling from 
the effects of the enemy's balls ; sometimes one end of 
the ladder comes to the ground without supporters, and 
then the other. For if the difficult operation takes 
place in the day-time, the enemy point all their engines 
of destruction at those carrying the ladders ; the troops 
are excited ; those that are left rush forward to grapple 
with difficulties not to be surmounted without assistance, 
at a time when the supporters of the ladders have let 
them drop, irritated and suffering from the pain of their 
w 7 ounds, others having fallen to rise no more. And 
probably out of ten or twenty ladders only two or three 



OF NEW ORLEANS. 



233 



out of the whole can be raised against the enemy's 
parapets. On the other hand, if such an operation 
takes place at night, the least obstacle stops the pro- 
gress of those carrying them, the soldiers fall, the 
ladders lay upon the ground, and are lost during the 
dreadful confusion. These evils in war are out of the 
pale of all theory. The operation must be seen to be 
well understood ; and I know of no rule except by se- 
lecting men of the most tried courage, and gifted with 
the most persevering and undaunted resolution, and if 
they fall, the operation must be left to the energy of 
the storming party. But taken as a whole, it is one of 
the most difficult of all enterprises, and of this the 
practical engineer officer is aware as well as myself, 
having seen in Spain and elsewhere the difficulty of 
raising ladders against walls, when well opposed, and 
also the great numbers dropped and left lying about even 
by the most veteran troops. 

If these blacks were only intended to carry the 
ladders to the three light companies on the left, they 
were too late. The great bulk of them were cut to 
pieces before the ladders were within reach of them ; 
even if the best troops in the world had been carrying 
them, they would not have been up in time. This was 
very odd, and more than odd ; it looked as if folly 
stalked abroad in the English camp. One or two 
officers went to the front in search of some responsible 
person to obtain orders ad interim; finding myself 
the senior officer, I at once, making a double as it 
were, or as Napoleon recommended, marched to the 



234 



BATTLE IN FRONT 



spot where the heaviest firing was going on ; at a run 
we neared the American lines. The mist was now ra- 
pidly clearing away, but, owing to the dense smoke, 
we could not at first well distinguish the attacking 
column of the British troops to our right. 

We now also caught a view of the seventh and the 
forty- third regiments in echelon on our right, near 
the wood, the royal fuzileers being within about three 
hundred yards of the enemy's lines, and the forty-third 
deploying into line two hundred yards in echelon be- 
hind the fusileers. These two regiments were every 
now and then almost enveloped by the clouds of smoke 
that hung over their heads and floated on their flanks, 
for the echo from the cannonade and musketry was so 
tremendous in the forests, that the vibration seemed 
as if the earth was cracking and tumbling to pieces, 
or as if the heavens were rent asunder by the most 
terrific peals of thunder that ever rumbled ; it was the 
most awful and the grandest mixture of sounds to be 
conceived ; the woods seemed to crack to an inter- 
minable distance, each cannon report was answered 
one hundred fold, and produced an intermingled roar 
surpassing strange. And this phenomenon can nei- 
ther be fancied nor described, save by those who can 
bear evidence of the fact. And the flashes of fire 
looked as if coming out of the bowels of the earth, 
so little above its surface were the batteries of the 
Americans. 

We had run the gauntlet, from the left to the centre 
in front of the American lines, under a cross fire, in 



OF NEW ORLEANS. 



235 



hopes of joining in the assault, and had a fine view 
of the sparkling of the musketry, and the liquid flashes 
from the cannon. And melancholy to relate, all at 
once many soldiers were met wildly rushing out of the 
dense clouds of smoke lighted up by a sparkling sheet 
of fire, which hovered over the ensanguined field. 
Regiments were shattered, broke, and dispersed — all 
order was at an end. And the dismal spectacle was 
seen of the dark shadows of m^n, like skirmishers, 
breaking out of the clouds of smoke, which slowly 
and majestically rolled along the even surface of the 
field. And so astonished was I at such a panic, that I 
said to a retiring soldier, " have we or the Americans 
attacked ?" for I had never seen troops in such a hurry 
without being followed. " No," replied the man, with 
the countenance of despair and out of breath, as he 
run along, " we attacked, Sir." For still the reverbera- 
tion was so intense towards the great wood, that any 
one would have thought the great fighting was going 
on there instead of immediately in front. 

Lieutenant Duncan Campbell, of our regiment, 
was seen to our left running about in circles, first 
staggering one way, then another, and at length 
fell on the sod helplessly upon his face, and in this 
state several times recovered his legs, and again 
tumbled, and when he was picked up he was found to 
be blind from the effects of a grape-shot that had torn 
open his forehead, given him a slight wound in the leg, 
and had also ripped the scabbard from his side, and 
knocked the cap from his head. While being borne 



236 



BATTLE IN FRONT 



insensible to the rear, he still clenched the hilt of his 
sword with a convulsive grasp, the blade thereof being 
broken off close at the hilt with grape-shot, and in a state 
of delirium and suffering he lived for a few days. 

The first officer we met was Lieutenant-colonel Stovin, 
of the staff, who was unhorsed, without his hat, and 
bleeding down the left side of his face. He at first 
thought that the. two hundred men were the whole 
regiment, and he said " forty-third, for God's sake 
save the day!" Lieutenant -colonel Smith, of the 
rifles and one of Packenham's staff, then rode up 
at full gallop from the right, (he had a few months 
before brought to England the despatches of the 
capture of Washington,) and said to me, " did you 
ever see such a scene ? There is nothing left but 
the seventh and forty-third! just draw up here for 
a few minutes to show front that the repulsed troops 
may re-form." For the chances now were, as the 
greater portion of the actually attacking corps were 
stricken down, and the remainder dispersed, that the 
Americans would become the assailants. The ill-fated 
rocket was discharged before the British troops moved 
on ; the consequence was, that every American gun was 
warned by such a silly signal to be laid on the parapets 
ready to be discharged with the fullest effects. 

The misty field of battle was now inundated with 
wounded officers and soldiers who were going to the 
rear from the right, left, and centre ; in fact, little more 
than one thousand soldiers were left unscathed out of 
the three thousand that attacked the American lines, 



OF NEW ORLEANS. 



237 



and they fell like the very blades of grass beneath 
the scythe of the mower. Pakenham was killed? 
Gibbs was mortally wounded, and his brigade dis- 
persed like the dust before the whirlwind, and Keane 
was wounded. The command of His Majesty's forces 
at this critical juncture now fell to Major-general Lam- 
bert, the only general left, and who was in reserve with 
his fine brigade. 

With the exception of the two hundred soldiers 
under my orders, in the centre there was hardly a man 
formed all the way to the bank of the Mississippi, or 
any reserve ready to resist, for nearly the space of half 
a mile of ground which was immediately in front of the 
whole of the right and the centre of the American 
barricade, or to hinder them from dashing up the high 
road to the canal and the place where Colonel Thornton 
had embarked with his force, for the passage of the 
river. 

Had the Americans only advanced, the probability 
would have been by this movement that they would 
have got one mile behind the seventh and the forty- 
third regiments, and the fugitives that had retired into 
the swampy wood ; and had they succeeded in beating 
back the soldiers under my orders, and some sixty 
or seventy soldiers under the orders of Lieutenant Hut- 
chinson of the royal fusileers, who clung round the 
left battery, after retreating from the crescent battery, 
when he found nearly all his men killed or wounded, 
and that the principal attack had utterly failed, and 
himself left without any support. 



238 



BATTLE IN FRONT 



The rifle-corps individually took post to resist any 
forward movement of the enemy, but the ground al- 
ready named being under a cross fire of at least 
twenty pieces of artillery, the advantage was all on the 
side of the Americans, who in a crowd might have 
completely run down a few scattered troops exposed to 
such an overpowering force of artillery. 

The black troops behaved in the most shameful 
manner to a man, and, although hardly exposed to 
fire, were in utter and abominable consternation, and 
lying down in all directions, and amongst them the 
white feather nodded triumphant. One broad beaver 
with the ample folds of the coarse blanket thrown 
across the shoulders of the American was as terrible 
in their eyes as a panther might be whilst springing 
amongst a timid multitude. These black corps, it was 
said, had behaved well at some West India islands, 
where the thermometer was more congenial to their 
feelings. 

Lieutenant Hill (now Captain Hill) said, in his shrewd 
manner, " Look at the seventh and the forty-third, like 
two seventy-fours becalmed l" 

As soon as the action was over, and some troops were 
formed in our rear, we then, under a smart fire of grape 
and round shot, moved to the right, and joined our 
own corps, who had been ordered to lie down at the 
edge of a ditch ; and some of the old soldiers, w 7 ith 
rage depicted on their countenances, were demanding 
why they were not led on to the assault. 

The fire of the Americans from behind their barri- 



OF NEW OELEANS, 



239 



cade had been indeed most murderous, and had caused 
so sudden a repulse that it was difficult to persuade 
ourselves that such an event had happened, — the whole 
affair being more like a dream, or some scene of 
enchantment, than reality. 

And thus it was : on the left bank of the river, three 
generals, seven colonels, seventy-five officers, making a 
total of seventeen hundred and eighty-one officers and 
soldiers, had fallen in a few minutes. 

The royal fusileers and the Monmouthshire light in- 
fantry, from the beginning to the end of the battle, 
were astounded at the ill success of the combat, and 
while formed within grape-range were lost in amaze- 
ment at not being led on to the attack, being kept as 
quiet spectators of the onslaught. 

Lieutenant Augustus D'Este, of the royal fusileers, 
and aid-de-camp to General Lambert, rode up to our 
regiment, his countenance full of animation, declaring 
that he had never enjoyed himself more, and pro- 
testing that he would rather hear the balls whistle 
through the air than the finest band of music. These 
expressions were so un-Orleans like, that I fail not to 
note them down. 

About an hour and a half after the principal attack 
had failed, we heard a rapid discharge of fire-arms 
and a few hurried rounds of cannon on the right bank 
of the river, when all was again silent, until three 
distinct rounds of British cheers gladdened our ears 
from that direction, although at least one mile and a 
quarter from where we were stationed. They were 



240 



BATTLE IN FRONT 



Colonel Thornton's gallant troops, who were successful 
in the assault on the American works in that quarter, 
the details of which, for a brief space, I must post- 
pone. 

For jive hours the enemy plied us with grape and 
round shot ; some of the wounded lying in the mud or 
on the wet grass, managed to crawl away ; but every 
now and then some unfortunate man was lifted off the 
ground by round shot, and lay killed pr mangled. 
During the tedious hours we remained in front, it was 
necessary to lie on the ground, to cover ourselves from 
the projectiles. An officer of our regiment was in a 
reclining posture, when grape-shot passed through 
both his knees ; at first he sank back faintly, but at 
length opening his eyes and looking at his wounds, he 
said, " Carry me away, I am chilled to death ;" and as 
he was hoisted on the men's shoulders, more round 
and grape-shot passed his head ; taking off his cap, 
he waved it ; and after many narrow escapes got out 
of range, suffered amputation of both legs, but died 
of his wounds on board ship, after enduring all the 
pain of the surgical operation, and passing down the 
lake in an open boat. 

A wounded soldier, who was lying amongst the slain 
two hundred yards behind us, continued without any 
cessation, for two hours, to raise his arm up and down 
with a convulsive motion, which excited the most pain- 
ful sensations amongst us ; and as the enemy's balls 
every now and then killed or maimed some soldiers, 
we could not help casting our eyes towards the moving 



OF NEW ORLEANS. 



241 



arm, which really was a dreadful magnet of attraction : 
it even caught the attention of the enemy, who, with- 
out seeing the body, fired several round shot at it. 
A black soldier lay near us, who had received a blow 
from a cannon-ball, which had obliterated all his fea- 
tures ; and although blind, and suffering the most 
terrible anguish, he was employing himself in scratch- 
ing a hole to put his money into. A tree, about two 
feet in diameter and fifteen in height, with a few 
scattered branches at the top, was the only object to 
break the monotonous scene. This tree was near the 
right of our regiment : the Americans, seeing some 
persons clustering around it, fired a thirty-two pound 
shot, which struck the tree exactly in the centre, and 
buried itself in the trunk with a loud concussion. 
Curiosity prompted some of us to take a hasty inspec- 
tion of it, and I could clearly see the rusty ball 
within the tree. I thrust my arm in a little above the 
elbow-joint, and laid hold of it ; it was truly amusing 
between the intervals of firing the cannon, to wit- 
ness the risks continually run by the officers to take 
a peep at this good shot. Owing to this circumstance, 
the vicinity of the tree became rather a hot berth ; but 
the American gunners failed to hit it a second time, 
although some balls passed very near on each side, and 
for about an hour it was a source of excessive jocularity 
to us. In the middle of the day a flag of truce was 
sent by General Lambert to General Jackson, to be 
allowed to bury the dead, which was acceded to by 
the latter on certain conditions. 

M 



242 



BATTLE IN FRONT 



And now having given all that came under my ob- 
servation in the centre of this curious fight, probably 
it will not be amiss, during the flag of truce, to offer 
some general details of much more consequence than 
what was seen by myself; and in the whole some 
repetition may appear on the face of my pages, yet 
I know not how. To break in upon the scene of 
fire and smoke, and all the lofty associations of the 
battle-field with the cold details of plans which 
were laid down by the British general, which in no one 
instance were acted upon. 



OF NEW ORLEANS. 



243 



CHAP. X. 

BATTLE IN FRONT OF NEW ORLEANS 
CONTINUED. 

The eighty-fifth light-infantry regiment, with armed 
sailors and marines, and the first West-India corps of 
blacks, in all twelve hundred men, were making the 
greatest exertions, during the night, to get the boats out 
of the canal, to cross to the right bank of the Missis- 
sippi river before break of day, and endeavour to seize 
sixteen pieces of cannon, most of which pointed across 
the Mississippi, and by their fire raked all along the 
front of the American lines about to be attacked by 
the main body of the British. But, owing to the canal 
not being cut sufficiently deep, or the river falling 
lower than was expected, many of the ships' barges 
and pinnaces were aground, and only a number suf- 
ficient to convey across the river seven hundred men, 
could be got out just before day-break ; and thus con- 
signed to the Mississippi, with muffled oars, these 
soldiers vanished from the anxious glances of the 
British general. 

Upon the success of these troops hinged the main 
attack on the American lines ; and if Colonel Thorn- 
ton succeeded in mastering these batteries, he was to 

m 2 



244 



BATTLE IN FRONT 



turn the cannon upon the Americans, when the British 
main body was to move on to the assault on the left 
bank of the river. 

But owing to the boats being aground in the canal, 
daylight broke before this force could land on the 
opposite side of the river, which totally altered all 
the plans laid down : it behoved Sir Edward Packen- 
ham to wait patiently until the success of those 
crossing the river was known. The silence which 
reigned around was a happy harbinger that all 
went on well, as the great probability was that the 
British troops might have been fired on from the 
right bank of the river, before or while getting out of 
the boats. 

Although day had broke, still a sort of fog hung 
upon the surface of the earth, and the British gene- 
ral might have withdrawn his front columns, which 
were formed within seven hundred yards of the Ame- 
rican lines, with the utmost ease and facility, and then 
have quietly waited to see the upshot of those sent 
across the river. 

The forty-fourth regiment, four hundred strong, were 
broken up, one hundred to form a covering party, 
(with three companies of the rifle-corps,) and the re- 
mainder to be employed in carrying fascines and lad- 
ders for the purpose of facilitating the passage of the 
remainder of the troops across the wet ditch ; and so 
flat was the country in its front, that it was difficult to 
see this breast-work a short way off. 

The attack upon the Americans was to be made as 



OF NEW ORLEANS. 



245 



soon as break of day or twilight made objects at all 
visible, and those of the new world could be distin- 
guished, as, owing to their speaking English, much 
confusion had taken place at the night attack on the 
previous 23d of December ; and it was thought better 
to fight them in broad daylight, when their want of 
discipline would not be shielded under the cover of 
darkness. 

The forty-fourth regiment and the twenty-first Royal 
North British fusileers were to lead the attack in co- 
lumns, to be supported by the fourth or King s Own, 
This column was composed of two thousand men. 

The ninety-third regiment of highlanders were to 
be a moveable column to threaten the centre of the 
American lines, or to act as circumstances might re- 
quire, and the surplus of the five companies of the 
ninety-fifth or rifle-corps were to be extended along 
the front of the left and left centre. Some light troops 
were to endeavour to turn the extreme left of the 
American long line of entrenchments. In this wood 
the tribe of savages ensconced themselves. 

The light companies from the seventh royal fusileers, 
the ninety-third highlanders, and one company from 
the forty-third light infantry regiment, were to attack 
the often-mentioned crescent battery, without any sup- 
port, under the mouths of twenty pieces of cannon; 
and singular to recount in the annals of the military 
world, at the precise spot at which the main body of 
the British had hesitated twice before when in an un- 



246 



BATTLE IN FRONT 



finished state; but which entrenchment had now 
grown into and was the very iron horns of the Ame- 
rican position. This little column consisted of two 
hundred and forty British. 

The seventh royal fusileers and the forty-third light 
infantry regiments were to compose the reserve, and 
to support, if necessary, the principal column of attack. 
The third West-India regiment of blacks were also in 
reserve. 

The American position, as before stated, was now 
formidable, and the only chance of taking it was, by 
getting as near as possible under cover of darkness, 
and then by a bold rush gain the edge of the ditch 
before the Americans could begin a heavy firing. 

The canal had been cut a thousand yards in length, 
broad and deep, from the head of the creek, and 
making an acute angle three hundred yards from the 
river, ran direct into it. This work was worthy of a 
Roman general, and the indefatigable labour of his 
cohorts ; and had there been a breast-work thrown up 
behind, it would have constituted a position of ten times 
the strength of the lines of the Americans. Under the 
mask of this canal the British general, if necessary, might 
have continued on the defensive against the world in arms, 
while, feeding and succouring, from time to time, those 
that had already crossed the river, and within one mile 
and a half of the American lines, he could have de- 
bouched to attack at mid-day, should the result across 
the river prove fortunate. There was no time to be 



OF NEW ORLEANS. 



247 



lost, as the Americans, like the ancients, entrenched, 
barricaded, and re-entrenched, according to passing 
exigences. 

With such a position, then, the British general could 
have no fear of evil results, while making a wide move- 
ment to the left by water. This is even supposing his 
columns of attack were ready to assail the American 
lines in front, which they were not; his orders had 
been disobeyed, the few troops intended for the attack 
were not ready to go on either on the right or the 
left ; for neither party had been supplied with proper 
necessaries for crossing the ditch. 

By some mistake the officer commanding the forty- 
fourth regiment had passed the redoubt during dark- 
ness, where the ladders and fascines were scattered 
about for his use, and indeed had halted alongside of 
it for ten minutes without an engineer officer coming 
forth, or even sending a message after the regiment 
when it had gone on. But the question is, was any 
engineer officer present at this time to do so ? It always 
is customary, on such occasions, for the engineer not 
only to point out these things in person, but to see 
that his directions are implicitly obeyed ; and a 
commanding officer even of a regiment is only a 
secondary person when the engineer department 
comes into requisition on such occasions. In all the 
sieges at which I have been present, the very con- 
spicuous part taken by the engineers generally was 
so remarkable and indefatigable, that there cannot be 
a second opinion on the subject. Nay, what is more 



248 



BATTLE IN FRONT 



remarkable, a serjeant of the royal artillery even 
stepped out of this redoubt, and acted as a guide 
during the darkness to the forty-fourth regiment, to 
the advanced battery, within seven hundred yards of 
the American lines ; and this mistake might easily have 
been made by the officer commanding the forty-fourth, 
as redoubt and battery are synonymous. 

How was it that this mistake was not rectified, 
with staff-officers enough for ten times the number of 
troops present ?— that no one found out this fatal error 
until too late to rectify it? It would be conjectured that, 
the troops having been twice baulked at this very spot, 
those whose duty it was to superintend ought to have 
been on the qui vive. And, indeed, the troops could 
hardly know whether they were going on in earnest 
or not ; and this was shown beyond all dispute when 
the attack did begin. And it is no less strange than 
true, that the two hundred and forty soldiers in front 
of the crescent battery were precisely in the same 
predicament ; not a fascine or a ladder for their use 
was brought up when they rushed on to the attack. 
Moreover, two hundred soldiers of the forty-third regi- 
ment, who had been working at a battery all night within 
close range of the crescent battery, as already stated 
were at day-break without orders, and when dis- 
missed by the engineer, knew not which way to bend 
their footsteps for the purpose of joining their regiment. 

The forty-fourth regiment was ordered back ( nearly 
three hours after they had taken up their ground ) more 
than a quarter of a mile for ladders and fascines at 



OF NEW ORLEANS. 



249 



day-break, having lost their breath with running and 
hurrying. Half these soldiers had not gained their 
proper position in front of the column of attack ; hence 
they were hurried into action, and opened out, struggling 
as they were to place fascines and ladders across a ditch 
in face of some of the best marksmen in the world, and 
at broad daylight. 

Sir E. Packenham was now on the bank of the 
Mississippi, listening and waiting the result of the 
passage of the boats about one mile and a quarter 
from his front columns of attack ; in fact, in a central 
position, to order the main attack on his own side of 
the river to go on or to be checked. But he was now 
no longer his own master, as he could not see the 
troops under his own command ; and it behoved him to 
wait, to give his own plans time to develope themselves. 
A thick mist hung on the ground and over the river, 
which was most fortunate for the plans of the general, 
as the Americans could not see the boats passing across 
the river, nor the columns of attack, within so short 
a distance of their main lines. 

Here was la fortune de la guerre fully exemplified ; 
for, owing to the delay of the boats, daylight had already 
appeared, and two hundred yards every way could be 
clearly seen ; and had it not been for the mist, as a 
matter of course the Americans would have opened 
fire, both on the boats as well as the columns formed 
for the intended main attack. The mist proved the 
most lucky screen possible, and really made amends 

m 3 



250 



BATTLE IN FRONT 



for the want of water in the canal, which prevented 
the boats getting out earlier. 

Now it must be clearly understood, that part of the 
troops, with Herculean labour, toiling knee-deep, like 
navigators, and covered with mud for a week, while 
cutting the canal, were the soldiers who twice 
before, from superior orders, had retired from the 
exact spot at a time they all thought they were going 
on, and who were led to believe, while excavating 
the canal so long as eight days before, that the 
American works had become too strong to attack in 
front, and that they were making this passage by way 
of turning these works. Fifty armed boats were 
brought up from the fleet. In short, every one was on 
the tip-toe of expectation; every eye was turned towards 
the right bank of the river; and all was quiet. 

It was impossible to know what obstacles the troops 
might not meet with while landing, what abbatis might 
be thrown across the forest-ways, and what creeks or 
inlets might not stay their march, even had they made 
good a landing. But the silence which existed was a 
good omen : not a cannon, not a single musket had 
been discharged from either side of the river: therefore 
there was nothing to bewilder or throw the British 
general off his guard in the excitement of the moment ; 
when, wonderful to recount, and lamentable to detail, 
Sir E. Packenham declared " that he would wait his 
own plans no longer" and commanded that the fatal, 
the ever-fatal rochet should be discharged as a signal 



OF NEW ORLEANS. 



251 



for the forty-fourth, twenty-first, and fourth regiment to 
begin the assault on the left of the American lines ; thus, 
at one fell swoop, all chances of success were thrown, 
as it were, to the bottom of the river. The mist was 
slowly clearing away ; and, to add to other misfortunes 
and other injudicious arrangements, three hundred men 
of the forty-fourth, who were to lead the attack, were 
only clearing a redoubt five hundred yards behind the 
head of the column, at whose head they ought to have 
been, with shouldered ladders and fascines, when this 
rocket was let off. 

The consequence was, that every thing was disor- 
ganized before a shot was fired ; the British artillery 
began to fire, and were soon answered by those of the 
Americans. The column was impelled onwards, the 
twenty-first leading, followed by the fourth regiment, 
and the soldiers of the forty-fourth carrying fascines 
and heavy ladders, all round the column, while puffing 
and blowing from their previous running back to the 
redoubt for the ladders. As this column neared the 
American lines, the musketry opened on them while 
crossing the drains which here and there intersected 
these flats ; and as there was not the least cover, the 
troops began to suffer much, and then hesitated within 
a hundred yards of the lines, and opened a heavy fire 
of musketry, which positively obliged the rifles which 
led to cling to the earth. 

And now the baneful effects of past occurrences burst 
forth in the most glaring colours. A cry sprang up 
from the rear of the column, " retire !" " retreat !" 



252 



BATTLE IN FRONT 



" There is an order to retreat !" At this critical moment 
Sir E. Packenham rode up from the banks of the Mis- 
sissippi ; and Major-general Gibbs, in despair, declared 
that the troops would not follow him. The musketry 
of the enemy increased. 

General Gibbs was mortally wounded, and, with 
imprecations on his lips, was carried off the field. Sir 
E. Packenham, now taking off his hat, rode to the 
head of the column, and valiantly cheered on the 
soldiers, who were falling and staggering like drunken 
men from the effects of the fire, some going back and 
others going on. Here Sir E. Packenham was wounded 
in the knee, and had his horse slain under him ; and 
while mounting a second charger, the brave general 
received his mortal wound, and fell dead into the 
arms of the aid-de-camp. The confused column soon 
gave way on all sides. Major-general Keane was 
also wounded; and a few brave officers and soldiers 
were prowling about at the edge of the ditch, in 
vain waiting for only a few planks and some support 
to enable them to enter the American works ; lieutenant 
Lavack and some straggling soldiers of the twenty- 
first did actually get in, but were obliged to surrender 
themselves prisoners. 

The remains of the column now took shelter at the 
edge of the swampy wood, or behind the redoubt, to- 
tally disorganized. By some strange error, which still 
remains a mystery, and perhaps ever will, the ninety- 
third highlanders being isolated, were marched up 
within good musketry range of the American lines, 



OF NEW ORLEANS. 



253 



instead of supporting the three victorious companies on 
the high road, and being then ordered to deploy into 
line, stood like statues, until they had lost in killed 
and wounded, including those that fell of their light 
company, five hundred and forty-four soldiers ; and the 
residue of the regiment, of about three hundred, were 
obliged to vacate the field. 

The two light companies of the seventh royal fusileers, 
the ninety-third highlanders, and the one of the forty- 
third light infantry, soon after the firing of the British 
artillery had begun, rushed forward under a murder- 
ous fire of cannon, rifles, and other small arms ; and 
although the crescent battery was defended bravely, 
muzzle to muzzle, by some of the American regulars of 
the seventh regiment, the New Orleans rifle company, 
and also by some Kentucky riflemen, and notwith- 
standing the obstinate defence, the British soldiers, 
with fixed bayonets, forced themselves into the battery 
by one of the embrasures, the very moment after a 
cannon defending it had been fired. 

The Americans that were driven out of this battery 
were seen to run across a single plank close by the river 
to get into the extreme right of their main line of en- 
trenchments, which were only a short way behind the 
battery. The defenders stood to their guns to the very last 
moment ; and Lieutenant-colonel Renny, of the twenty- 
first fusileers, who was placed in the command of these 
three companies, was shot by a merchant of New Orleans, 
while hanging over the entrenchment of the battery. 
At the moment of reaching this battery the ranks of 



254 



BATTLE IN FRONT 



these soldiers were well nigh crushed and annihilated ; 
for eight officers and one hundred and eighty men out 
of the previous two hundred and forty were extended 
killed and wounded ; and when the remainder took the 
battery, the Americans only gave ground because the 
attackers were seized with a phrenzy. 

This handful of soldiers tenaciously clung to the bat- 
tery, and the four pieces of cannon were taken by en- 
sconcing themselves in its exterior ditch, (as the interior 
of the redoubt was open and exposed to the fire from 
the main lines of the Americans,) in hopes of some 
further succour coming to them ; and it was only 
when the grand attack had failed that they thought of 
retreating, which was effected by some of the soldiers 
raising their caps on the points of their bayonets, and 
making a shout, which induced the enemy to fire a 
volley, and before the smoke had cleared away these 
intrepid soldiers at full speed were almost out of 
musketry range. It has been erroneously asserted 
that some of these troops even reached the main 
line of the enemy's entrenchments, but this was not the 
case. 

The only three officers that escaped unwounded were 
Lieutenant Hutchinson, # of the seventh fuzileers, who 
had three shot-holes through the right side of his cap, or 
more properly speaking six, counting the egress made 
by the balls behind his cap ; Lieutenant Lorentz, of the 
same regiment, had the back of his white shoulder-belt 

* Now Major Hutchinson, of the seventh royal fusileers. 



OF NEW ORLEANS* 



255 



almost cut in twain with a musket-shot ; and Lieutenant 
Steele, of the forty-third, was the only officer who had 
escaped without a score or a mark of any sort. 

Thus it was that the moment of victory eluded our 
grasp, owing to the loss of General Sir E. Packenham, 
who undoubtedly would have pushed forward the re- 
serve, and decided the fate of the day. The seventh 
fusileers and forty-third regiment were formed in 
echelon within less than six hundred yards of the 
enemy, filled with enthusiasm, and waiting impatiently 
in vain for an order to force a passage ; but there they 
stood, idle spectators of the direful defeat, after having 
been brought so many thousand miles to join in the 
combat. Had they been moved forward, the fortune of 
the day would have been effectually restored and the 
victory clenched. 

Captain Wilkinson, acting brigade-major to General 
Gibbs, had his horse shot under him, but with an eagle 
eye he saw the Americans slackening fire, and rushed for- 
ward on foot ; a ball pierced his body, and he fell into the 
shallow ditch, mortally wounded, and while gasping for 
breath, said to the only officer who had accompanied him, 
" now, why do not the troops come on ? the day is our 
own." Lieutenant Lavack, of the twenty-first fusileers, 
then scrambled up the earth entrenchment, and seeing the 
enemy flying in a disorderly mob, demanded the swords 
of two American officers, who at the first impulse were 
surrendering themselves prisoners ; but, on recovering 
their self-possession, and finding the gallant English 
officer unsupported, they replied, " Oh, no ; you are 



256 



BATTLE IN FRONT 



alone, therefore ought to consider yourself our prisoner:" 
and on looking over the parapet, Lieutenant Lavack found 
to his unutterable astonishment that the British troops 
had receded, and in a manner declined taking advan- 
tage of the proffered boon. 

Lieutenant Lavack, two months afterwards, when re- 
leased at the conclusion of the war, (with two shot-holes 
through the plate of his cap,) declared before seven of us, 
that the whole of the Americans on the left of their 
lines had run away, with the exception of the two 
before-mentioned officers. During the ardour of the 
battle this gallant officer sprang over the mud-works ; 
and while describing the whole proceedings to us, said, 
a Now, conceive my indignation, on looking round, to 
find that the two leading regiments had vanished, as 
if the earth had opened and swallowed them up these 
were the exact expressions used by him. 

As soon as the smoke had cleared away, the trans- 
atlantic citizens that had got into a melee of confu- 
sion, finding that the left of their lines was not taken 
possession of, recovered their self-confidence, and re- 
trod their footsteps to re-man the lines. At the com- 
mencement of the fusilade the Americans made great 
havoc in the ranks of the British, owing to the pre- 
cision of their fire. 

During the heat and the smoke of the firing, the 
Americans got entangled one with the other, and were 
in the most extraordinary confusion, w T hile crowding 
their parapets eight or ten deep ; and as the front men 
let off their pieces, and fell back to reload, to make 



OF NEW ORLEANS. 



257 



place for other aspirants " to take a shoot," as they 
called it, those that had fallen back were afraid to 
return to the parapet ; and it is a singular fact, that 
during the melee, both hostile bodies were flying 
one from the other at the same time, but under very 
different circumstances ; the British having well nigh 
lost two thousand men, whilst their opponents, en- 
sconced up to their chins, had only sustained a loss 
of some fourteen persons killed and wounded, — a cir- 
cumstance unparalleled in modern history. 

Although the loss had been so great on the part of 
the British, and a decided repulse had been given to 
their columns, still the reserve were anxiously looking 
for the result of the attack of Colonel Thornton on the 
other side of the river ; thinking that, if he was suc- 
cessful, the reserve, backed up by the troops already 
repulsed, would make some further attempt. 

More than an hour had elapsed since the attack had 
first begun ; and the cannonade was pretty brisk, both 
from the front and on one flank from the batteries on 
the right bank of the Mississippi, which did little in- 
jury, as the cannoneers could not see us, owing to the 
dead level. All at once we heard, on the other side 
of the river, pop, pop, pop, followed by a volley of 
musketry, interspersed with a few hasty rounds of 
artillery, which ceased as suddenly as it had begun, and 
every one spontaneously said " bravo ! the batteries 
are taken, and the Americans are done for." 

The troops in the boats had been carried a little 
down the stream of the river, owing to the great force 



258 



BATTLE IN FRONT 



of the current, and under cover of the fog had landed 
unopposed a short way further down than was in- 
tended. However, as soon as they had formed their 
ranks, and heard the great convulsion of sounds 
going on at the principal attack, they hurried on to a 
temporary bridge across an inlet, drove the American 
picket before them, and coming in front of an un- 
finished entrenchment, were received by a very heavy 
volley. The sailors and marines for a moment were 
taken aback, but Colonel Thornton, taking off his hat 
at the critical moment, with his regiment not four hun- 
dred strong (backed by the marines and sailors), by a 
sort of charge of skirmishers at the point of the bayonet, 
took all the American works, their batteries, with six- 
teen pieces of cannon and one stand of colours of the 
New Orleans militia, with the small loss of seventy- 
eight men ; the eighty-fifth losing forty-three, the 
marines sixteen, and the armed sailors nineteen. 

Twelve hundred Kentucky, Tennessee, and other 
Americans, under General Morgan, flew from the field 
without looking behind them, and without sustaining 
hardly any loss. So swiftly did they vacate their en- 
trenchments, covered by their own smoke, that they 
hardly gave the victors time to climb the bank, to get a 
shot at their retreating footsteps. 

This panic is easily accounted for ; the British at- 
tacked, as they were wont to do, by rushing into the 
enemy's smoke, which, clearing away, only shewed the 
red coat and yellow facings triumphant, and the eighty- 
fifth light infantry again ran away with the American 



OF NEW ORLEANS. 



259 



laurels, which they so well deserved, in the same man- 
ner as they had done at Bladensburgh. And although 
they were well supported by the sailors and marines, 
yet all the credit was due to the eighty- fifth leading 
the van, and answering the spontaneous call of Colonel 
Thornton, who was wounded. And singular enough, 
these victorious troops thought that the grand attack 
had succeeded, although only half a mile from the ex- 
treme right of the American entrenchments. 

We waited and waited, still exposed to a cannonade 
from the front, and in our turn expected to hear all 
the captured guns open fire and enfilade the American 
entrenchments from right to left, exactly in the same 
way that the American sloop had raked the English 
bivouac on the first night of landing ; but no such agree- 
able sounds greeted our ears, the Americans having 
spiked their guns on the right bank of the river before 
they were taken possession of. 

But still Colonel Thornton had accomplished every 
thing that was desirable, or that the most sanguine 
expectations could have contemplated. And although 
Sir Edward Packenham was no more, his ultimate 
plans had been realized by the able conduct of Colonel 
Thornton, who had seized the happy instant of making 
his successful charge. 

Had all the generals brought their troops into 
action like Colonel Thornton and Lieutenant-Colonel 
Renny, a most brilliant conquest would have crowned 
the enterprise, would have added new lustre to 
the British arms 5 and closed this bloody war by a 



260 



BATTLE IN FRONT 



glorious achievement, as worthy of record as it is now 
unworthy. 

Ten armed boats, with carronades in their bows, 
floated on the waters of the Mississippi, and forty more 
boats were ready to follow them, if necessary, and 
batter the right flank of the Americans to the very 
portals of New Orleans, who did not possess a, flotilla 
to engage them. 

The British troops now swept the right bank of the 
Mississippi, and were ready to move on within eight 
hundred yards of New Orleans, and might on that side 
have built another city of the same name, had they 
been so inclined. General Jackson had lost more than 
half his artillery, and his troops were in the utmost dis- 
may and confusion within their lines, and there was 
nothing left to save them, except by making a bold rush 
to try to seize the boats still aground in the canal, cut 
by the British, which they did not attempt to do. The 
repulse they had met with in the night of the previous 
23rd of December, by the troops that first landed, had 
produced such an effect on their minds of the imprac- 
ticability of an open warfare, that they made no attempt 
to sortie beyond the crescent battery and line of en- 
trenchments. 

General Lambert's reserve were as cool as cucumbers, 
and joking.one with the other ; the repulse in front, in the 
eyes of these old soldiers, was not considered decisive. 
The British general possessed two batteries within seven 
hundred yards, opposing the right and left of the Ame- 
rican entrenchments. Besides which, in case of being 



OF NEW ORLEANS. 



261 



overpowered by numbers, he had the canal at his back, 
which nothing could cross, and he had the long wished- 
for command of the mighty waters of the Mississippi, 
and all the assistance that a powerful fleet could give, 
and still within five miles of New Orleans, and seven- 
teen hundred troops not yet engaged, burning for the 
onslaught, and wishing by fresh efforts to wipe off the 
stain cast upon His Majesty's uniforms. 

Here was a glorious position ! Here was another 
opening to the streets of New Orleans, and dame For- 
tune soared aloft in favour of the English general. 
This was not the time to count the dead. This was not 
the time to cover the drum with crape, to sound the 
funeral knell, or the trumpets to blast the dead march in 
Saul. This was the moment, and the balance between 
victory or defeat ; instead of which a military extin- 
guisher was placed over the bright flame of enterprise, 
which was as suddenly put out as a greased rush or a 
farthing candle. And so long as a parchment is en- 
grossed, or the cords of the martial drum are tightened 
to beat the retreat, never will all the scenery acted 
before New Orleans and the broad expanse of the 
Mississippi, be otherwise to the fancy than the tented 
scene in Richard the Third. 



262 



BATTLE IN FRONT 



CHAPTER XL 

BATTLE IN FRONT OF NEW ORLEANS 
CONTINUED. 

In this position, wonderful to recapitulate, a flag of 
truce was sent to General Jackson by the British 
general, at the very time such a proposition might have 
been expected from the opposite quarter, to ask the 
American general leave to bury the dead who were now 
lying under his lines ; which truce General Jackson 
gladly acceded to, and embraced with the utmost eager- 
ness, provided the British general would consent not to 
send any reinforcements across the river : nay, he even 
consented to refrain from doing so himself, so glad and 
rejoiced was he of any hopes of gaining time to extract 
by some great effort such a thorn stuck into his side. 
And, moreover, so intent was General Jackson to gain 
time during such an unlooked-for respite, that, as a lure, 
he permitted the British fatigue parties to approach 
nearer to his lines than he had ever done before, with- 
out throwing a curtain of smoke from his artillery to 
hide their weak parts from scrutiny. 

At mid-day, a line being drawn at a few hundred 
yards from the lines, the Americans handed over from 
different points the dead bodies of about three hundred 



OF NEW ORLEANS. 



263 



British soldiers, many of them naked, having been 
stripped of their uniforms, to be hawked about the 
streets of New Orleans in triumph, or the caps placed 
on the heads of Americans, and the tufts and feathers 
of officers and soldiers stuck into their round hats as 
trophies of this day. And while the British soldiers 
were digging holes to bury their dead, the Americans 
picked up one thousand stand of small arms, left by the 
killed or dropped by the wounded men, of the King's 
own, the royal fusileers, the north British fusileers, the 
forty-fourth, the forty-third light infantry regiment, the 
ninety-third Highlanders, and the ninety-fifth or rifle 
corps. 

About three hundred of the wounded soldiers of 
the above corps were also carried into the American 
lines as prisoners ; and these prisoners were looking for 
momentary relief from captivity, owing to the success on 
the right bank of the river ; but they were not rescued, 
but abandoned, to bite their nails with deep chagrin at 
the broad jokes of the Americans, who recovered their 
self-possession as soon as it was known that the British 
troops had of their own accord given up their great 
victory on the right bank of the river. 

While the interment of the slain was taking place, 
the Americans in front, when they found out by this 
flag of truce the great extent of our loss, which they 
did not know before, were so elated, that some of them 
indulged in many jests and jibes ; but to their credit let 
it be admitted that the wounded, when once within their 
lines, were treated with the greatest humanity, put into 



264 



BATTLE IN FRONT 



good houses, and their wants supplied with unsparing 
hand. 

During the rest of this gloomy, raw, and cloudy 
day, we maintained our position without budging an 
inch to the rear ; and at seven o'clock in the evening 
saw a great conflagration on the other side of the river, 
on the extreme right of the American lines. We re- 
tired two hours after dark to the original ground the 
troops had marched from in the morning ; and when we 
found that Colonel Thornton's troops had been with- 
drawn from the opposite side of the river, and re- 
landed, and that the boats were again got into the 
canal, then, and not till then, all further hopes of 
victory were blasted. At such a piece of informa- 
tion it is impossible to convey an adequate idea of our 
astonishment at such an advantage being given up. 
But this was only the finale of the many fantasies 
played off on the banks of the Mississippi to confound 
the " god of war," and to bring the many inexplicable 
contrarieties since the first landing to the climax. 
Never before this had I felt that inferior officers and 
soldiers were nought but machines, when this last piece 
of well-earned good fortune was flung away for the 
feast of carrion birds of prey: and His Majesty's uni- 
forms held up or cuffed about in derision ; and every 
button, and every breastplate, and every thread eyed 
with the scrutiny of American curiosity. 

Was this not enough, I say, to make His Majesty's 
officers hold hard the breath of suppressed indignation 
at being reined in when so much blood had been spilled, 



OF NEW ORLEANS. 



265 



and when the words of their dying comrades still called 
on them to advance ? And to quote General Jackson's 
own brief expressions will throw additional light on this 
most extraordinary of all hesitations : for when an op- 
posing general makes such a candid and honest confession 
as is here made, and that too the very day after the 
affair, what can be more conclusive ? 

General Jackson having, in a dispatch to the Hon. 
James Munroe, secretary-at-war, dated January 9, 1815, 
four miles below New 7 Orleans, briefly detailed the 
repulse of His Britannic Majesty's troops, and having 
taken five hundred prisoners, and stated the small loss 
sustained by the Americans, goes on to say, — 

" The entire destruction of the enemy's army was 
now inevitable, had it not been for the unfortunate 
occurrence which took place on the other side of the 
river. 

" Simultaneously with his advance on my lines, he 
had thrown over, in his boats, a considerable force to 
the other side of the river. These having landed were 
hardy enough to advance against the works of General 
Morgan ; and what is strange, and difficult to account 
for, at the very moment when their entire discomfiture 
was looked for with a confidence approaching to cer- 
tainty, the Kentucky reinforcements, on which so 
much reliance had been placed, ingloriously fled, draw- 
ing after them, by their example, the remainder of 
the forces, and thus yielding to the enemy that most 
fortunate position. The batteries which had rendered 
me for many days the most important service, though 

N 



266 BATTLE IN FRONT OF NEW ORLEANS. 

bravely defended, were of course now abandoned ; not, 
however, until the guns had been spiked, 

" This unfortunate route had totally changed the 
aspect of affairs. The enemy now occupied a position 
from which he might annoy us without hazard ; and 
by means of which he might have been enabled to 
defeat, in a great measure, the effect of our success on 
this side the river. It became, therefore, an object of 
the first consequence to dislodge him as soon as possible. 
For this object all the means in my power, which I 
could with safety use, were immediately put in pre- 
paration. 

" Perhaps it was somewhat owing to another cause 
that I succeeded beyond my expectation. In nego- 
ciating the terms of a temporary suspension of hostilities 
to enable the enemy to bury their dead and provide for 
the wounded, I had required certain propositions to be 
acceded to as a basis ; among which this was one — that, 
although hostilities should cease on this side of the river 
until twelve o'clock of this day, yet it was not to be 
understood that they should cease on the other side, 
but that no reinforcements should be sent across by 
either army until the expiration of this day. 

" His Excellency Major- General Lambert begged time 
to consider of these propositions until ten o'clock of to- 
day, and in the meantime re-crossed his troops. I need 
not tell you with how much eagerness I immediately 
regained possession of the position he had thus hastily 
quitted. » 

" The enemy having concentrated his forces, may 



RETREAT FROM NEW ORLEANS. 



267 



again attempt to drive me from my position by storm. 
Whenever he does, I have no doubt my men will act 
with their usual firmness, and sustain a character now 
become dear to them. 

" I have the honour to be, &c. &c. 

" Andrew Jackson." 

retreat from new orleans. 
January 9th, the army had taken up its original 
position, but still maintained its outposts within mus- 
ketry range of the American lines, who amused them- 
selves by throwing shot and shell generally at mid-day 
and also at midnight. Although the distance was 
one mile and a quarter, still they contrived to elevate 
their cannon, so that the balls sometimes flew over us or 
lobbed into our frail huts, and the heavy shells from a 
large mortar dropped amongst us in a similar manner, 
but the ground was so soft, being composed of alluvial 
soil, that whenever the shells reached it without ex- 
ploding, they seldom did any injury, merely making 
large holes of five or six feet deep, then bursting with 
a dead sound and scattering the loose mould. At this 
spot the water did not spring up so near the surface as 
in the vicinity of the American lines, which could not 
be approached by zig-zags as at ordinary sieges, owing 
to the water springing up at the depth of a foot. From 
the time we landed, I did not see a stone or pebble of 
any sort, and as if the birds were aware of this, they 
would hop within a few yards of us without taking 
flight. These flocks consisted of birds very like robins, 

n 2 



268 



RETREAT FROM NEW ORLEANS, 



their breasts being of a reddish tint, but they were mucl 
larger than a blackbird. The Americans, hearing our 
martial music, seemed resolved to give a response 
and every morning before day-light played several tunet 
with a band of music that was stationed about tht 
centre of their lines, and one particular waltz was 
seldom omitted. 

Three days after the attack, a grave w r as dug fo 
Lieutenant Duncan Campbell of our regiment, whc 
expired in great agony from the wound in the head, 
and being sewed up in a blanket he was consigned to a 
clayey resting place. An officer stood at the head of the 
wet grave reading the funeral service, with a prayer-book 
in his hand ; the rest of the officers were standing round 
the grave with caps off, when a shell from the enemy came 
whistling through the air, and was descending apparently 
upon our heads, but fortunately it exploded one hun- 
dred yards in the air with a dreadful crash, showering 
down a thousand iron fragments, which we heard drop- 
ping in every direction, without injuring one of us. 
The noise having subsided, the prayer was then con^ 
eluded, the grave covered over, and we retired from 
the solitary ceremony. The night after this burial a 
shell exploded over a hut in w T hich two officers of our 
regiment were sleeping, which cut off both the feet of 
Lieutenant D'Arcy, — the one just below the knee, and 
the other at the ankle-joint, and he crawled out of the 
hut in this horrible situation. One of his feet was driven 
so far into the soft mould that it was obliged to be 
dug out the following day. 



RETREAT FROM NEW ORLEANS. 



269 



A round shot knocked the cooking kettle off a fire, 
which was encircled by officers' servants, without doing 
further damage than spilling the soup, which in these 
hard times was a very serious inconvenience ; for owing 
to adverse winds and the necessity of carrying the 
wounded down to the shipping by Lake Borgne, a dis- 
tance of sixty miles, and bringing up in return provi- 
sions, the sailors were quite exhausted. They had 
been exposed for more than a month in the depth of 
winter to all kinds of weather, sweating on the oars by 
day, or perishing with cold in the open boats by night. 
The consequence was, that the consumption was be- 
yond the produce; on some days we did not taste 
food, and when we did, it was served out in such small 
quantities as only to tantalize our voracious appetites, 
so that between short commons and a perpetual can- 
nonade, we passed ten days after the repulse in as 
uncomfortable a manner as could fall to the lot of most 
militaires to endure. 

One morning before day-light we were disturbed (hav- 
ing been kept awake half the night by the usual saluta- 
tions of shot and shell) by the water pouring into our 
huts, and as soon as objects could be discerned, what a 
dreary prospect presented itself to view ! The Missis 
sippi had overflown its banks, and nothing but a sheet 
of water was to be seen, except a few straggling huts 
and one house, the lines of the Americans, and the 
forest trees. It was nearly dark before the w T aters 
subsided. The whole day the troops were enveloped 
in muddy blankets, shivering with cold, as hungry as 



270 



RETREAT 



FROM 



NEW ORLEANS. 



hunters, and looked like polar bears standing on their 
hind legs- The enemy, who were as badly off as our- 
selves, ceased firing, being, as we afterwards understood, 
up to their knees in mire. One day being in advance 
on picket in a fort constructed by the parings of the 
black-loam for some twenty or thirty yards around, and 
within a few hundred yards of the enemy, I distinctly 
saw with my telescope a motley group of Americans 
traversing and elevating a gun, for the purpose of throw- 
ing lob-shot over our heads into the principal bivouac. 
One of these civil artillery-men was capped with a red 
woollen cap, a second wore the hat of a miller, and so 
on. The epaulements of the embrasures, which I could 
clearly distinguish, were supported by round packs of 
cotton, eight or nine feet long and two in diameter. 

A grove of the loftiest orange-trees I ever saw grew 
near the scattered houses, and were covered with oranges 
nearly ripe ; this may appear surprising at this season 
of the year, but such was the case ; and in lack of 
other food we cast them into iron pots half filled with 
sugar, mixed with a little water, by which process we 
converted them into candied orange-peel, which in some 
degree satisfied the cravings of hunger, but brought on 
complaints, added to the cold and wet, which sent 
many officers sick on board-ship. The sugar in the 
hogsheads was crystallized with the alternate rains, 
frost, and the occasional gleams of sunshine, and eat 
very like candied sugar. 

A day or two before the brigade of field artillery 
were put on board the boats (which took place during 



RETREAT FROM NEW ORLEANS. 



271 



the night), some straw was loosely strewed over the 
guns that their departure might not be noticed by any 
of the negroes wandering about the houses, and to pre- 
vent them giving any information to the enemy that 
we were about to decamp. The old ship-guns were 
abandoned, and left in the advanced batteries as trophies 
to the Americans. 

On the 18th it was intimated that we were to retire 
during the night. At eight o'clock in the evening 
another officer and myself were hanging over the dying 
embers of our fire on the extreme left of the lines, in 
readiness for the order to move off. All fires were 
extinguished, when the flash of a cannon disturbed our 
meditations by sending a whizzing round shot from the 
opposite bank of the Mississippi into our bivouac ; a 
second and third salutation plunged so near that we 
raked out the small fire to throw the enemy off the 
range, and the soldiers were so irritated that they fell 
in simultaneously, and demanded to be marched to the 
front or to the rear. I never saw the troops more indig- 
nant ; they vociferated in loud sneers at the whole pro- 
cess of the operations, and it was truly amusing to 
hear the quaint remarks of some of these hardy veterans. 

At nine o'clock we silently filed off to enter a marsh 
which had never before been traversed by human foot- 
steps, except those of the engineer officers, who had been 
superintending the cutting down of reeds and placing 
boughs of trees at the most boggy places, to endeavour to 
make something like a road for the infantry to pass, there 
not being a sufficiency of boats to carry off the troops in a 



272 



RETREAT FROM NEW ORLEANS. 



body. Fortunately the weather held up ; otherwise, 
had a heavy fall of rain happened during the march, 
we must all have perished in the slough. 

As a matter of course the few horses and other 
materials appertaining to the army had been previously 
conveyed on board-ship. For a short way we proceeded 
on the hard road, following the preceding column, and 
then entered the swamp, and the first step sank up to 
the knees in mud, and we continued to drag one leg after 
the other, sometimes falling on our faces, and at others 
sinking in up to the hips, and any one unluckily stepping 
off this road was almost certain of going over head and 
ears. At one spot the men came to a dead stop ; an officer, 
more valiant than wise, pushed everyone aside and boldly 
stepped forward to lead the way ; but courage availed 
him little, for in an instant he was up to his neck, and 
had it not been for the timely exertion of those present, 
in two seconds he would have disappeared. 

The soldiers were obliged to carry their firelocks in 
both hands horizontally, so that when they lost their 
footing, they might hang to their arms until assisted by 
their comrades. During the whole of the night we 
scrambled and tumbled about in this bog, and when 
morning broke, a scene presented itself which beggars 
all description. The straggling files of the soldiery 
extended along the quagmire for miles, enclosed by 
high reeds ; every countenance was plastered with mire; 
in fact, the whole army were covered with a cake of 
mud from the top of the head to the sole of the foot, 
and to increase the agreeables of this most extraordinary 



RETREAT FROM NEW ORLEANS. 



273 



of all marches, the air was darkened by flights of wild 
ducks, and a dead alligator nine feet in length lay across 
the way. The monster had been despatched by the 
thrust of a bayonet in the belly, and one of its fore- 
legs was broken by a herculean blow ; each leg was 
nearly twice as thick as a man's arm. The back and 
tail of these amphibious animals are covered with a dark 
shell like a coat of mail, which is musket-ball proof. 

At ten o'clock the following morning we reached a 
place of rest called the Fishermen's Huts, which stand 
on an artificial ground, but surrounded by a swamp or 
spongy morass, rising four or five inches above the sur- 
face of the creek, and therefore subject to frequent 
inundations. Here we passed some wretched days upon 
half allowance, without any fuel, save the reeds, to 
kindle fires which flared up with a puff, and went out in 
an instant, without conveying any warmth to our shiver- 
ing bodies. Here an officer of the rifle-corps shot a 
wild duck with a single ball, and this duck without 
sauce was so much talked of, that I really believe half 
the troops dreamed of this bon morceau. 

Two launches, armed with carronades in their bows, 
were pushed up the creek, to prevent any of the enemy's 
boats from coming down suddenly upon us ; otherwise 
our position was impervious, as there was no possibility 
of reaching us, it not being very likely that the Ameri- 
cans would voluntarily enter the swamp by which we 
had marched from necessity. A night or two before 
we quitted this place, the enemy landed near these boats 
to make a reconnoisance, but two rounds of grape-shot 

n 3 



274 



RETREAT FROM NEW ORLEANS. 



and some musketry from a picket of our regiment, un- 
der Lieutenant Hill, obliged them to decamp. 

I passed a night near this post, — and such a night as 1 
shall not easily forget ; a hut composed of propped reeds 
stood close to the creek, and just before dark I saw an 
alligator emerge from the water, and penetrate the wil- 
derness of reeds which encircled us on this muddy quag- 
mire as far as the eye could reach. The very idea of 
the monster prowling about in the stagnant swamp took 
possession of my mind in a most forcible manner, — to 
look out for the enemy was a secondary consideration. 
The word was, look out for alligators! Nearly the 
whole night I stood a few paces from the entrance of 
the hut, not daring to enter, under the apprehension 
that an alligator might push a broad snout through the 
reeds and gobble me up. The soldiers slept in a lump. 
At length, being quite worn out from want of sleep, I 
summoned up courage to enter the hut, but often 
started wildly out of my feverish slumbers, involun- 
tarily laying hold of my naked sword and conjuring 
up every rustling noise amongst the reeds to be one of 
these disgusting brutes, with a mouth large enough to 
swallow an elephant's leg. 

Captain Sir James Gordon, of the Royal Navy, who 
commanded the Sea-Horse frigate, took up his station 
at the Fishermen's Huts, to superintend the embarkation 
of the troops by detachments. This spot was the grand 
gossipping rendezvous. Lieutenant Steele, of our 
corps, inclined to the amphibious, was always joking 
with him of the Sea-Horse ; and, being vastly fond of 



RETREAT FROM NEW ORLEANS. 



275 



everything appertaining to shipping, took up a paddle 
which belonged to a canoe, and quietly walked off with 
it into the boo-, and then waited, that Sir James might 
see him, who instantly called out, 6 Halloo, you sir, you 
have got one of my paddles V i Well, I know that/ was 
the reply : i I have no fire-wood, therefore I am going to 
cook my dinner with it/ Captain Gordon jumped up, 
but having a wooden leg, the stump stuck in the 
mud, and an armistice was entered into between this 
true cut of a sailor and the soldier, amid roars of 
laughter. Lieutenant Steele was to help Sir James out 
of the mud, and to surrender the paddle on the condition 
that Sir James would supply him with a dinner. The 
two days we remained here the weather was pretty fine. 
Some black slaves had preceded us to these huts, with 
the hope of escaping from their masters, and were as^ 
sembled to dance for our amusement, accompanied by 
a sort of rude pipe and tabor. The negroes went through 
violent contortions of countenance, by grinning, and 
throwing the head first on one side, then on the other, 
raising their knees in unison, kicking out their legs 
with the utmost elasticity, and throwing out their arms 
and snapping their fingers; but the style of the negresses 
was the most singular ; they only shuffled with their 
heels, without shifting their ground, in a manner hardly 
perceptible without the most exact scrutiny, and always 
fronting the negroes ; but, instead of using the feet, as 
in other countries, they moved and beat time to the 
music with the muscles of their posteriors in the most 
exact manner,— a practice, no doubt, taught from their 



276 



RETREAT FROM NEW ORLEANS. 



infancy, as no other part of the frame moves except that 
projecting part. 

On the morning of the 25th of January we quitted 
the morass. The ship's barge I was in conveyed nearly 
fifty men, and was rowed by twelve men-of-war's-men ; 
and, had I not been present, I never could have be- 
lieved that sailors, with ponderous oars, could have 
continued such exertions for so many successive hours ; 
now and then the naval officer called out, when they 
appeared to flag, hurra ! hurra ! give way ! which 
seemed to cheer their drooping spirits and renovate their 
declining strength. Thus, after twenty days' bivouac- 
king, and with rotten shoes, we were put on board the 
Bucephalus frigate, anchored off Cat Island. 

The day had been very fine, and while in conversa- 
tion with a full-grown midshipman on the extraordinary 
manner a boat's crew of Americans had contrived to 
kidnap and make prisoners three officers and fifty pri- 
vates of the fourteenth light dragoons while they were 
comfortably snoozing and covered with a tarpauling, as 
they were passing down the lake one night, for the pur- 
pose of going on board the shipping,— amongst other 
things I asked the midshipman what sort of a captain 
he was under, when he answered, " Sir, are you not 
aware that a captain of a man-of-war is a king ? — well, 
then, my captain is king of kings." 



l'isle dauphin. 



277 



CHAPTER X1L 



L ISLE DAUPHIN, 



In a few days the fleet weighed anchor, and steered its 
course, with gentle breezes, towards Mobile-Bay, and 
in twenty-four hours dropped anchor opposite VIsle 
Dauphin, where the troops disembarked early in Fe- 
bruary, and were put under tents. The soldiers no 
sooner landed than they dispersed themselves amid the 
thickets of pine and cedar-trees, and began a hot fusil- 
lade at the few cattle and hogs appertaining to a Mr. 
Cooney, of Irish extraction, who had been banished to 
that island for some misdemeanour committed in the 
American navy, in which he informed us he held the 
rank of midshipman. Himself and wife were its only 
inhabitants, although it was some miles in length, and 
from one to three in breadth. Before any order was 
issued, the soldiers, who had been for months on salt 
provisions, had destroyed every four-footed animal they 
could get a shot at ; the consequence was, when all the 
mischief was committed, an order was promulgated 
that no more were to be destroyed. This meat was so 
rank, and tasted to such a degree of rushes, which the 
cattle fed on, that it was impossible to stomach the 
flesh until well salted down, and even this process 



278 



l'isle dauphin. 



would not effectually take away the unpleasant flavour 
of the rushes. The Americans occupied a small fort, 
on a sandy promontory, at the mouth of Mobile-Bay, 
but after two or three days' cannonade it capitulated, 
with its small garrison of four hundred men. 

The side of the island on which we were stationed 
was three hundred yards from the shore, of a dry sandy 
soil, but as it abounded with alligators and numerous 
other reptiles, great care was taken to clear the ground 
of the underwood, and ditches were dug round our 
tents to prevent the nocturnal visits of the alligators, 
which lay dormant at this time of the year, although a 
stray one would sometimes protrude its enormous head 
and fore-legs out of a stagnant pool, to bask in the rays 
of the sun, or would creep, with a rustling noise, through 
the underwood ; and at a short distance they resembled 
a piece of burnt timber. In a few days almost the 
whole of the tents were hidden from view, and the laby- 
rinths of the camp presented a most picturesque ap- 
pearance, as every tent was enclosed by a wicker-work 
fence, interwoven with quantities of the richest ever- 
greens, representing all the intricacies of a handsome 
plantation. In this island of natural productions 
there are birds of the most beautiful plumage, such as 
humming-birds, parrokeets, eagles, pelicans, and various 
other species which fluttered in the trees, forming 
a perfect aviary. The shores abounded with delicious 
fish and extensive oyster-beds; the marshes produced 
wild fowl and large snipe, and its sands generated 
snakes, scorpions, and other reptiles; and, although 



l'isle dauphin. 



279 



it was considered by us a pleasant situation, Mr. Cooney 
informed us that during the warm weather a European 
would be nearly devoured alive, of the authenticity 
of which I had certain proof before we left it. Here 
we found a spot encircled with pine-trees, round which 
seven of us formed a wicker-work fence of great solidity, 
and also dug a ditch of considerable width, which 
measured ninety-five yards in circumference ; in the in- 
terior huts were constructed of the cedar-tree and other 
odoriferous shrubs. It was named Fort Anselmo, and 
au centre blazed an enormous fire ; around its bright 
blaze we happily caroused. 

Amongst other inconveniences attendant on long 
voyages, provisions at this period began to fail the 
fleet, and for many days scarcely any biscuit was served 
out ; our breakfast consisted of chocolate without 
sugar, fat pork, cut into rations and burnt over the 
embers of the fire, to serve as bread to the oysters. 
One night, while seated round the crackling wood fire, 
a negro slave, who had escaped from his master or 
driver, and accompanied us from before New Orleans, 
said, " Massa, I see little cow a piece of intelligence 
which made us prick up our ears, and each seizing a 
musket, we sallied forth, and, when close to General 
Keane's oblong wicker-work hut, ( — he had nearly re- 
covered the effects of his wound,—) the black pointed 
out a calf ; a volley was discharged ; it fell ; but, to 
our consternation, it was found to be tied to a stake by 
the leg, clearly indicating it to be private property. 
To be detected would never do : our cook, there- 



280 



L 5 1SLE DAUPHIN. 



fore, sprang forward, threw the animal on his back, 
and hid it in our fortification of vjicker-work. The 
whole camp was in alarm at the report of the fire- 
arms ; the guards were flying in all directions ; many of 
the soldiers turned out and stood to their arms, under 
the supposition that the enemy had made a descent ; 
and, to add to the joke, the general, a day or two 
after, invited one of our mess to breakfast with him, 
who broke four eggs, out of six, into a tumbler, with 
pepper and salt, and swallowed them. " Well," said 
the General, " if that is not the most light-infantry 
w r ay of eating eggs I ever saw : now really I should not 
wonder if some of you young gentlemen have not pur- 
loined my calf which, by-the-bye, was now cut into 
junks and crammed into pork-casks, and this pickled 
veal was subsequently distributed to our particular 
friends as a rarity. But this was not all, as one depre- 
dation begets another. An officer came back from a 
tedious day's sport ; being without small shot, he could 
not bag any game, and seeing a cow grazing near the 
shore, he shot her through the head with a bullet, and 
covered the carcase over with evergreens, and had 
scarcely reached home before a great outcry arose 
amongst the sailors in search of the Admirals milch 
cow, which, in due time, was brought in, salted down, 
and presented to some of the fusileers as rations. 

An enormous pine-tree, stripped of its bark and 
lower branches, to the height of at least sixty yards, 
stood a mile from our camp, towering and com- 
pletely overtopping all the other trees of the forest. 



l'isle dauphin. 



281 



On the top of this, the most stately tree that I 
ever beheld, and amidst the branches, which only 
tufted round its highest altitude, a silver eagle had 
built its nest, which we were determined to possess our- 
selves of; and as there were no means of getting at it 
without felling the huge tree, with a numerous party, 
we repaired to the spot and set to work, and, after 
much toil and most exceeding labour, when it was suf- 
ficiently cut with the axe and numerous bill-hooks, 
ropes were affixed round the trunk, and, after tottering, 
it came down with a tremendous crash, so much so, 
that although I was stationed a distance of an hun- 
dred yards from its base, firing ever and anon at the 
eagle, which hovered in the air at least a quarter of a 
mile over the nest that contained her young, — yet, when 
the prodigious tree fell towards me, I involuntarily 
shrunk and tottered backwards, and at the same time 
coming in contact with the root of a shrub, I lost my 
equilibrium, and measured my full length at the same 
moment with the tree, still frightened, and keeping my 
eye fixed on the falling mass, whose broken branches 
flew about in every direction with the concussion. One 
of the young eaglets had its neck broken, but the other 
was uninjured. They were just fledged, and were about 
the size of a half-grown goose ; the nest was very large, 
about the bulk of a common clothes' basket, and was 
composed of branches of trees, most of which were the 
circumference of a person's finger, and the whole of 
them were very dry and brittle. 

The same day an officer shot an alligator in the top 



282 



l'isle dauphin. 



of the head with a musket-ball while the monster was 
basking in the sun-beams with its head just above the 
surface of the water, in a stagnant pond within the 
limits of our camp ground. It was some hours before 
the vital spark was entirely extinct. Two young alliga- 
tors, each measuring more than a foot in length, were 
kept in a tub of water, and whenever put close together 
with a stick, no matter how often during the day, they 
would fight in the most vicious manner. 

One night a soldier's wife was nursing her child in a 
hut by the light of a taper, when a huge alligator 
crawled in, looked about, and then slowly backed its 
horrible shelled carcase out again, the poor woman all 
the time clasping her infant in her arms and transfixed 
with horror and consternation, in momentary expectation 
that the amphibious monster would devour herself and 
child. 

As a sort of explanation of a sham partizan warfare that 
took place in Dauphin Island, I must state that while 
in Spain a troop was formed bearing the title of " Bri- 
tannia's Hope," or the " Defenders of Innocence;" and 
each knight armed with a lance assumed a name such 
as Florian of the Desert, Palmarin of England, Se- 
bastian of Spain, Amadis de Gaul, and so on. I also 
took the title of Don Anselmo, and probably a more 
ludicrous scene than that which occurred on the day of 
its formation could not have taken place. The spot se- 
lected for the ceremony was a small amphitheatre en- 
closed with trees in full blossom. Each cavalier having 
decorated himself and horse with branches of blossom, 



L ISLE DAUPHIN. 



283 



dismounted to have his colour presented to him from 
my hands, consisting of an old bandana handkerchief 
which was tied to a pole, the whole of the knights 
joining in chorus " God save the King." We then 
mounted our horses and went our way in search of 
adventures, myself being dubbed with the honorary 
appellation of captain of the troop. But to revert 
to our sham warfare in America, where the greater 
portion of the officers of six regiments with might 
and main w T ere eagerly engaged, and also the offi- 
cers of the dismounted squadron of the fourteenth 
light dragoons, with as much zeal and anxiety as if the 
fate of a capital city was to be decided on the eventful 
day of a pitched battle, when two armies were about 
to begin the work of death face to face. Orders for 
this petty war were issued in writing, despatches were 
sent backwards and forwards by night and day : some 
of the autograph copies I still hold as specimens sent 
to me as the honorary commander-in-chief of one of 
the two rival and partizan camps. 

To the best of my belief this very amusing and inte- 
resting little guerilla warfare in truth originated about 
the egress to and fro to a broad path or opening which 
was overshadowed by trees on each side, and situated 
behind the lines of the eighty-fifth light infantry, where 
peradventure a pair of bright eyes and a feminine cos- 
tume, which had been recently imported from England, 
were to be seen. This broad walk was known to a 
few as a " by-word" of Pall- Mall, in allusion to 
the great lounging street of that name in England's 



284 



l'isle dauphin. 



overgrown metropolis. On the ground and under the 
pine trees was strewed a very great abundance of cones 
or pine-tops of considerable size, many of them being 
seven or eight inches in length and as many in cir- 
cumference, and when soaked through by the rain or 
immersed in water they were of goodly weight, and when 
thrown with force and exactitude, gave and left marks 
on the physiognomy of an ugly character. Of the 
effects of these cones I can speak feelingly, having 
received four black eyes at different times during the 
various onsets and skirmishes which happened in the 
course of the two months that we were in the labyrinth 
of trees and the wicker-work encampment, where from 
the height of enclosures and fences the red spiral tops 
of the white canvass tents were hardly visible in some 
places above them. 

There was a long open space of three hundred yards 
in breadth, (which was called the plain,) separating 
the two woods, in one of which the seventh fusileers 
and the forty-third were under canvass or hutted. On 
the other side of the open space were the eighty-fifth, 
ninety-fifth (rifles), the ninety-third highlanders, and 
also the fortieth regiment, which had recently arrived 
in this island. The already described Pall-Mall was 
nearly in rear of these last named regiments, who soon 
declared themselves as our opponents, from a recon- 
naisance made by some of our light troops for the 
ostensible purpose of negotiating an amicable treaty to 
admit of a free ingress and egress to their promenade 
of Pall-Mail. On one side of the broad path which 



L J ISLE DAUPHIN, 



285 



led from an encampment, the eighty-fifth had a sort of 
advanced wicker-work enclosure, which in a manner 
flanked the direct way (called the high road) to P all- 
Mall. The consequence was, that after some recon- 
noitering and parleying, the van-guards of the eighty- 
fifth and the forty-third, the latter being on their way to 
Pall-Mally began a rapid encounter with pine-cones, 
and seeing from some sand-hills that my van-guard, 
although victorious in the plain, were unable to pene- 
trate into their labyrinths of wicker-work and strong 
holds, I marched with a chosen body to their suc- 
cour, and without a halt stormed the above fort bv a 
small breach which was now the bone of contention, 
took it, and therein hoisted our colours as soon as it 
had surrendered at discretion. Amadis de Gaul, my 
second in command, and who had been hotly engaged 
from the beginning of the onset, and while the fort was 
in his charge, sent me the following despatch, and al- 
though not emanating from official organs, still this 
despatch describing the sham fight is penned so like 
many real despatches, of course of much greater mo- 
ment and importance, that I cannot resist the tempta- 
tion of inserting; it as a relic the most recherche of our 
younger frolics. It will be detected by the nature of 
the despatch that brevet ranks were bestowed with 
unsparing hand, and that a staff was formed as it were 
by sleight of hand, rough and ready, and were as 
expert at the pen, plucked from the pinions of the 
eagle or the vulture, as though they had been old 



286 



l'isle dauphin. 



stagers and grown grey in the service. This precious 
niorceau runs verbatim as follows: — 

Isle Dauphin, March 3, 1815. 
Sir, — I beg leave to report to your Excellency the 
particulars of the action with the enemy this morning 
before your arrival. Having formed my division, I re- 
ceived orders from your Excellency to advance and 
reconnoitre the enemy's out-post. I did so, and found 
them totally unprepared for the attack. I advanced 
with caution some distance into their lines, but the 
alarm being given by a few skirmishers of the enemy, 
they soon collected a force of more than double ours, 
which obliged me to fall back and take up a position 
within musket-shot of their advanced fort. The enemy, 
having from his magazines plentifully supplied himself 
with ammunition, advanced to attack us. We allowed 
them to come close to us before we opened our fire, 
which did great execution in the enemy's ranks. 
Colonel Carroll, at the head of his brigade, made a 
most gallant charge on a very superior body ; but owing 
to the great superiority of the enemy, Colonel Carroll's 
brigade were obliged to retire. Seeing this, I ordered 
the brigade of M'Lean's to charge, and led them myself, 
While going on I was several times wounded, as were 
several of the brave brigade at whose head I was, but 
the impetuosity of our charge w T as not to be withstood, 
and the enemy gave way in every direction, leaving two 
prisoners and Colonel Carroll, whom they had taken 
from us. They then threw a brigade into the fort, 



l'isle dauphin. 



287 



while with the remainder of their army they defended 
their right flank. I made several attempts to take the 
fort with my division, but owing to the great superiority 
of the enemy, could not succeed until your Excellency's 
arrival with a reinforcement, when our brave army 
carried every thing before them. 

I feel particularly indebted to Colonels Carroll and 
M'Lean for their assistance, and the very excellent dis- 
positions they made with the brigades they commanded. 
I also beg leave to mention my aid-de-camp Captain 
Hill. In fact no encomiums of mine can do justice to 
the bravery of the officers and soldiers under my com- 
mand. I beg leave to enclose a return of wounded. 
I have the honour to be 

Your Excellency's most obedient servant, 
Amadis de Gaul, 

General of division. 

To Don A?iselmo, 
Commander-in-Chief, Fort Anselmo. 

The captured fort was of no use to us, being at too 
great a distance from our encampment to garrison it ; 
however it was thought best to retain it for twenty-four 
hours as a trophy of our prowess. A treaty was drawn 
up between myself and Captain Travers of the rifle- 
corps, who commanded the army of our opponents, as 
follows : — 

Sunday. 

The fort to be made in the same state as it was prior 



288 



L ? ISLE DAUPHIN. 



to our being attacked, subject to the inspection of both 
parties. Thus it will remain in the possession of the 
forty-third forces. 

The forty-third and seventh who were inside the fort 
to day, when we retired, to remain there until twelve 
o'clock on Monday. An exchange of prisoners as 
formerly. 

(Signed) Field Marshal Travers, 

Commander-in-chief of the allied army, 
Camp, Fort Impracticable. 
( Granted) Anselmo, 

Commander of Forces, 
Fort Anselmo. 

After this, various encounters and combats took place, 
and both parties set to work to strengthen their works 
and entrenchments ; but the two formidable citadels 
opposed to one another were the Fort Impracticable 
and the Fort Anselmo, the former belonging to our 
rivals, and the latter being the strong hold or keep on 
our side. Being the more conversant with our fort, 
it will not he amiss to give a description of it. The 
Fort Anselmo was ninety-five yards in circumference at 
this sandy spot. A few pine-trees were felled and others 
growing in a natural circle ; and between the intervals 
of these trees large holes were dug in the sand, into 
which the stems of small pine-trees were buried and 
the holes filled up. To these props the wicker-work 
was interwoven and made fast to the trunks of the trees 
which formed the circle. The wicker-work enclosure 



l'isle dauphin. 



289 



being finished and of great strength, was interwoven 
with evergreens of broad and expansive leaf ; a sand- 
bank within was raised about three feet, as a sort of 
rampart, and to add to the durability of the stakes and 
the fence, which was seven feet high, and when stand- 
ing on the raised parapet within, it was about breast 
high, to enable us to pour down pine-tops on any as- 
sailants who should attempt to take the fort by escalade, 
for ladders were actually manufactured during our war- 
fare for such purposes, and at every four or five yards 
there were piles of pine-tops, after the manner of 
cannon-balls on the ramparts of more scientific for- 
tresses. 

Without this wicker-work fence was a dry ditch 
three feet deep and four in breadth, and all this labour 
was resorted to for amusement, as well as to keep out 
the alligators or other noxious animals and reptiles 
from paying us nocturnal visits. Within this strong 
enclosure were two tents and two huts, the latter con- 
structed with such care as to rival the most fanciful 
grottos, formed at great cost and time; and near the 
middle of the sandy space which was carefully swept 
with brooms made from the smaller shrubs, w^as a lar^e 
rude table chiselled with rough-edged tools ; the stools 
or seats were of the same rough workmanship and un- 
carpenter-like finish. This rough and ready table, and 
the seats enclosing it, were not moveable or fixed upon fa- 
shionable castors ; quite the contrary, they were nailed to 
the stumps and stems of decapitated trees, and in truth 
might be called the fixtures of the tempest, for there they 

o 



290 



l'isle dauphin. 



stood in rough outlines defying the pattering of the 
rain, or the unceremonious tempest strong, stiff, and 
sturdy, and even capable of bearing a heavier weight of 
viands than these times of scarcity afforded. This broad 
and coarse fixture deigned not to groan or to grow 
ricketty under the weight of intemperance, and around 
this board sat seven voyagers, moustached, and clothed 
in tarnished scarlet uniforms. One wore an hussar 
pelisse ; another was adorned with a satin waistcoat, 
richly embroidered, and studded with glass to represent 
precious stones, brought from Rodrigo in Spain ; another 
flourished a silver fork wanting one prong, which he 
brought from Badajoz, and which had dived into 
many a garlic dish, or been stuck into the mutton of 
Spanish Estremadura, or had played its part in the 
capital of Old Spain, and now flourished in the New 
World, employed in carrying helpless oysters to the 
same mouth and lips which bargained for it at one 
half of its intrinsic value ; and Benjamin Smith, a 
worthy soldier, might be seen caressing a pretty little 
paraquet, which had just recovered from a slight wound 
in the wing that had brought it from the bough of an 
adjacent tree. A few days after this interesting little 
bird of green plumage was made captive, it would run 
of a morning to visit the different mattresses which lay 
on the ground, and would nestle under the clothes 
apparently with the greatest transports of delight. 

In this inclosure, so famed for oyster feasts, pickled 
veal, and rushy-flavoured beef, which was all carefully 
stowed away in smuggled casks, containing salt brine 



l'isle dauphin. 291 

which formerly held lumps of junk, we made merry- 
over our cups, the great fire blazing brightly, and 
the rosin flaring in gas-like flames from the logs of 
the pine. This place, of a night, more resembled 
the resort of banditti than the abode of officers once 
so starched, stiff, and erect on England's parade- 
ground. Shooting was the order of the day; few went 
abroad without a firelock or fowling-piece both for 
sport and self-protection against the prolific produce of 
this, I may say, living soil, infested with creeping and 
strange animals, buzzing flies, and searching mus- 
quitoes ; the trees were alive with birds; many of their 
screaming notes were shrill and piercing. Every few 
yards some bird flew past, or perched on a distant 
bough, all presenting tempting objects for the marks- 
man. But unluckily we lacked of small shot ; some 
spent whole days in cutting leaden bullets into small 
lumps or particles, and others, more scientifically in- 
clined, endeavoured to turn manufacturers of shot. 
One invention totally failed, and the inventor, while 
boring holes in the bottom of an old tin kettle with 
laudable and philosophical patience, flattered himself 
that all his hopes would be crowned with complete 
success. The supposed necessary number of punctures 
being finished, a quantity of leaden bullets were melted 
down, the holy tin cover was held over a cask of water, 
and the important experiment began ; the molten lead 
was poured on the tin cover ; certainly a few drops of 
lead fell through the holes into the water, but they only 
presented a few mis-shapen lumps. But here the mis- 

o 2 



292 



l'isle dauphin. 



hap and failure did not end, for, ere the operator and 
the inventor could get breath, all the holes in the tin 
kettle were plugged up with lead, and his whole day's 
labour was soldered up as it were in half a minute. 
After this I saw no more attempts at the manufac- 
turing of small shot. 

In the middle of the arena of Fort Anselmo was a 
slender pine-tree, lopped of its branches, from the top 
of which waved a flag of u two colours/' composed of 
white and blue silk, emblematical of the facings of the 
royal fuzileers and the forty-third light infantry. 

Our soldiers (servants) were hutted in an outwork, 
without the principal gate of the fort ; under the arch- 
way was a square hole of considerable depth, over 
which beams were laid as a sort of drawbridge, which 
could be displaced at pleasure, so that the alligators 
might here be foiled in their attempts at crawling into 
the fort. Round the servants' huts was another dry 
sandy ditch with an embankment or parapet ; this place 
was called the parade-ground ; at the corner of it we 
had sunk a well, the water of which, like the rest in 
this island, was of brackish taste, like the water drunk 
at many of the spas by English invalids, as a cleanser 
after the joys of the table ; however, as this was the 
best water to be got, we were obliged to put up with its 
spa-like taste morning, noon, and night, yet I cannot 
say that all of us did not enjoy the most robust and 
vigorous health, eating and drinking our coarse fare 
under the concave of etherial blue, heedless which way 
the wind blew. 



l'isle dauphin. 



293 



At the back of this fort there was a small wicker- 
work door wove with curious ingenuity, and just large 
enough for admitting one person at a time, by climbing 
out of the ditch ; and the branched exterior of this 
small outlet so exactly corresponded with the exterior 
wicker-work fence, that it was totally impossible to de- 
tect that such an outlet existed : and this secret aperture 
was unknown to any of us, save one who was the planner 
of it, and this ingenious handicraftsman had laboured at 
its construction behind his own hut, and for more than 
a month he went and came by it ; we often won- 
dered how he disappeared from the fort when he was 
often seen only to enter his own hut, and frequently 
voices called him from the ill-shapen and unpolished 
board of hilarity, and even some went in search of him, 
as there was no answ T er returned, but he was no where 
to be found. In the end this small doorway saved Fort 
Anselmo from capture in the day of strife, — nay, another 
half-minute's delay would have deprived its possessors of 
it, and the silken colours of blue and white would have 
been torn down, and have formed a trophy and been 
most likely suspended beneath the flag of yellow and 
green of our opponents, the champions of the Fort 
Impracticable. 

Before the fuzileers had joined us, I assembled the 
officers of our own corps only, and moved into the open 
space for the purpose of bringing the eight-fifth and 
the rifle-corps to action in the open plain, muster- 
ing about equal numbers with our opponents. But 
they would not come forth from the cover of their en- 



294 



l/lSLE DAUPHIN. 



trenchments, and amused my advanced guard by giving 
them some stray shots, and a good deal of desultory 
skirmishing took place. As commander, I was sta- 
tionary with my main body two hundred yards behind 
all, out of reach of the enemy's projectiles, and sur- 
rounded by my main body, ready to succour at those 
points where the hottest of the action raged. 

While looking eagerly towards the flanks, I all at 
once caught a glimpse of the Scotch caps of the ninety- 
third Highlanders gliding through the w 7 oods, and who 
were absolutely marching in such a direction as would 
force me to show two faces, or rather to throw my ad- 
herents on two sides of a square. Although the ninety- 
third had not declared against us, still I thought pre- 
cautionary measures necessary, and I ordered my van- 
guard to retire slowly ; if followed, to continue to fight in 
retreat, but, if possible, to conceal from their opponents 
that a retrograde movement was decided upon across a 
plain and in front of three regiments against us. This re- 
trograde movement being adopted with all the regularity 
and good conduct desired by my most sanguine wishes, I 
immediately, unknown to any except my second in com- 
mand, quitted the field, leaving him to continue the action 
until my return ; at full stretch of legs I ran to the 
portals of the Fort Anselmo, ordered the bridge to be 
taken up, leaving only one person as centinel at its 
gate, and then caused great heaps of pine-tops to be 
conveyed to a position at the edge of the wood, where 
I resolved to fight at all hazards, although against 
such odds. 



l'isle dauphin. 



295 



After a brave struggle my army was completely 
routed, and the greater part prostrate and taken pri- 
soners. The enemy were two to one in the en- 
counter, and as all small bodies, when once broken, are 
generally annihilated, this was the case with us after 
one hour's fighting ; a few of the right wing only 
saved themselves by diving through the thicket, to en- 
deavour to regain Fort Anselmo by the secret entrance, 
and there enter, if possible, to man the ramparts and 
to save the fort. 

Only one individual from my centre and left, during 
the hot pursuit, contrived to reach the outworks in front 
of the principal entrance of Fort Anselmo, and that 
was Don Sebastian, of dark visage, made still darker 
by the contusions he had received in the fray; thus 
breathless and alone, without his cap, he stood, the 
picture of every thing that was delightful — the sole 
champion to repel a host, who then jumped into the ditch 
to climb the banks of the outwork, and to grapple with 
the only defender, who was of strong arm, redoubtable, 
and of a chivalric spirit, and withal of deep romance. 
Whether he was inspired at the legendary tales of the 
old women and nurses of the Highlands, or whether the 
deeds of the most redoubtable chieftains of his ancestors 
had fired his brain, I know not. But he was a host, 
and well-nigh beggared and set at nought the mighty 
and tough legends of old, when knights with battle-axe 
or ponderous sword, uplifted w T ith both hands, clove 
in twain the sculls of all comers ; for as the climbers 
mounted to the assault, he tumbled them into the little 



296 



l'isle dauphin. 



fosse one after the other; but at length waxing feeble 
with long turmoil, he was overpowered, and thrown 
headlong by many hands into the ditch. 

Lieutenant Gleig, of the eighty-fifth, headed this 
party most valiantly, and I must say he spared no en- 
deavours to take the fort. With, his own hands he 
tore down the colours of Fort Anselmo, and under 
a shower of pine-tops boldly sprung towards the en- 
trance, and finding the bridge gone, unhesitatingly 
jumped into the hole under the gateway; but here he 
was entrapped and met his fate. Lieutenant Steele, 
a Yorkshireman, seized hold of him and obliged him 
to surrender himself a prisoner in the very place which 
he had intended to leave with trophies and as a con- 
queror. 

There stood the festooned wicker-work portals invi- 
tingly open ; but others of his partizan allies, running 
the gauntlet, and eager for the capture of this fort, 
sprung into the ditch, and peeping into the wide-gaping 
sand-pit, they unhesitatingly flew from its tottering 
brink, and carrying with them the ocular tidings of its 
great depth to their main body, they all hesitated, and 
came to a stand-still, and by way of gaining time and 
recovering from their sudden panic they sent forward to 
demand the surrender of the fortress ; but the only 
signal they obtained from the skeleton remains of its 
defenders, was a bold front from their lofty breast- 
works, pointing in derision to the open portals and 
the sand-pit under its archway. 

The partizan allies tenaciously clung to the parade- 



i/lSLE DAUPHIN. 



297 



ground or outworks of the fort ; but finding as they 
cooled, after the fray, that their contusions began to 
be painful, they were glad to enter into a treaty, wherein 
the garrison demanded my release, and that I should 
negotiate the following protocol : — 

Fort Anselmo. 

The inner part belongs to the forces of Anselmo, the 
outworks to the enemy, who are to immediately occupy 
them. It is agreed that in three parts of an hour the 
enemy's forces are to be in the works taken. But if not 
occupied by them in the stated time, General Anselmo's 
forces are to take possession of them. 

(Signed) Anselmo, 

Commander-in-chief. 
N. C. Travers, 
Com. 

And here follows the exact copy, word for word, which 
I wrote at the time in my defence of the late bat- 
tle, to show that our rivals brought into the field 
(against all the rules of war ancient or modern,) other 
partizan allies, who had not previously taken either 
directly or indirectly any share in the petty warfare, 
but by stealth had crept through a wood, and come 
over its borders, had attacked the left and threatened 
the rear of my adherents, without even sending a 
herald to announce to w 7 hich side they were about to 
proffer their assistance ; however, I thought it more 
glorious to fight with fourteen men against twenty-eight 

o 3 



298 



i/lSLE DAUPHIN. 



than to retire, there being some honour in winning the 
day, and little discredit in losing it. Hutchinson and 
Lorentz, of the royal fuzileers, seeing the disparity of 
numbers, joined us, and we were more than once 
within an ace of winning the day. 

Anselmo Castle, 
Dauphin Island. 

In the morning I perceived the enemy drawn up in 
heavy columns on the high road leading to their en- 
trenchments in order of battle. I immediately ordered 
General Considine to move on with the first brigade of 
his division to reconnoitre them, which he did to my 
satisfaction after some slight skirmishing, and drove 
the enemy's pickets close in to their main body. Seeing 
this, I determined to move on with my whole army, and 
defeat them before any reinforcements could arrive. The 
first brigade of the light division was at this time hotly 
engaged, and gained some partial advantages, though 
against a superior body. At this time I perceived the 
ninety-third army moving through the wood with an 
evident intention to turn my left, (though war had not 
been declared against that nation.) This movement 
determined me to fall back and take up a position in a 
wood in front of Anselmo Castle, which I did with some 
loss, as the enemy continued pushing on in a deter- 
mined manner, intending if possible to bring me to 
action in the plain, which I was determined to avoid if 
possible, as the army was double mine in numbers. I 
had just got my troops into position, when the enemy 



L 5 ISLE DAUPHIN. 



299 



made a most determined charge on my centre, resting 
on the high road to Anselmo. At the same time they 
attempted to turn my right. In both these attacks they 
were repulsed by the gallantry of my troops. 

My right was severely engaged under General Steele ; 
several attacks were renewed on my left and centre, but 
failed where I commanded in person. The enemy then 
made a flank movement towards my left, where I imme- 
diately went, leaving Generals Considine and Mac 
Lean, senior, who were bravely repelling the enemy in 
the centre. At this time, by the superior force of the 
enemy, notwithstanding all my efforts, he succeeded in 
turning my left, under Field-Marshal Travers in person, 
whom, as well as a colonel of the ninety-third, I made 
prisoners, when their reserve came up, dispersed and 
routed the third division, released the prisoners I had 
made, and took me while 1 was endeavouring to get 
Marshal Travers away. 

General Considine, finding his rear threatened, com- 
menced his retreat, disputing every inch of ground. 
Unfortunately he exposed himself too much and was 
made prisoner, when the army, seeing this, was in much 
confusion. General Mac Lean continued the action, and 
rallied the army at the outworks of Anselmo, where, 
after a most desperate effort to restore the fortune of 
the day, this general was also taken prisoner. 

The enemy then assaulted the castle, commanded by 
Deputy Governors Steele and Madden, and were re- 
pulsed with the loss of some prisoners. 



300 



l'isle dauphin. 



Other skirmishes and affairs took place, and I after- 
wards made an attempt to take Fort Impracticable with 
the united forces of the royal fusileers and the officers of 
the dismounted squadron of the fourteenth light dra- 
goons, but failed, owing to the fortieth regiment attacking 
us before a declaration of war, as the ninety-third had 
done. Our rivals had dug a deep pit within the open 
door-way of their fort, similar to the sand-pit beneath 
the portals of our fort. Penrice, of the fusileers, was 
entrapped in the hole of their sand-pit. Herewith 
follow extracts of more despatches which fell into my 
hands. 

Head-quarters of the Eighty-fifth Forces. 

Sir, — In answer to your despatch, which I have re- 
ceived by your aid-de-camp, I beg leave to inform you 
that what you have mentioned with respect to the 
seventh regiment is on our part agreed to; but as you 
state yourselves and the seventh to be independent 
nations, we consider ourselves, the fortieth and ninety- 
third, in the same light : we have therefore made the 
same proposals to them which you have to the seventh. 

The articles which you propose in your despatches we 
fully agree to, except that part which alludes to the 
half-hour's notice previous to any attack being made. 
It is our fixed determination to attack at any moment 
after the stipulated hour which may suit our conve- 
nience ; and the only weapon with which we shall 
expect to meet is the pine-apple. 

No fences shall on any account be broken down or 



l'isle dauphin. 



301 



entered except where a breach or gate-way is apparent, 
or by scaling. 

By order of the Commander of the Forces, 

G. I. Watts, 

Military Secretary. 

To Gen. Considine, 
Commanding advance of the forty-third. 

Sir, — I have just received this note, and send it for 
your perusal. You will perceive they will not agree to 
give notice of an attack. I think they mean to endeavour 
to surprise us. If you have any orders send to me, 
and I will make arrangements, and give out general 
orders about the divisions providing themselves with 
ammunition, havresacks, &c. &c. 

Will you appoint my division, or shall I do it ? — what 
strength must it be ? 

James Considine, 

Gen. Advance. 

To His Excellency, Don Anselmo, 
Commander-in- Chief 

The suspicion conveyed in the last document, that 
a surprise was in contemplation by our opponents, was 
not given at random, for a few nights after the receipt 
of it, the writer of the first of these documents w r as 
detected in the uniform of a private soldier, and made 
captive in the very act of taking the depth of the 
dry ditch of our out-works, which had been recently 
strengthened. A naval aid-de-camp, one day, somehow 



302 



l'isle dauphin* 



contrived to get hold of an animal carrying the frame* 
work of a horse, and, with lance in hand, this nautical, 
personage came in front of our fort as a herald of de- 
fiance. Having examined from withinside the outlines 
of himself and steed, and seeing as we did that his seat 
was what may be termed only a loose hold of the 
saddle, it was agreed amongst us as we parleyed with 
him, that the most fleet of foot, with pine-top in hand, 
should go forth and make a prize of this horse and its 
rider. But not to do an injustice to this maritime 
officer on horseback, away from his own element, and 
the land of lubbers, I must state that, like a good 
vidette, as soon as he saw himself likely to be beset 
on such an unwieldy beast of bad provender, he made 
a most desperate effort to slue round, pulling and se- 
sawing away at the bridle, with hands wide asunder, 
and at the same time most unmercifully pounding the 
animal's ribs and belly which sounded like an old 
drum. But in truth the animal had no go in it, and 
the tack was only half completed when he missed stays ; 
the pedestrian came up, and laying hold of one of 
the rider's nautical feet, lifted him from the centre of 
gravity, and gave him of the blue jacket a most com- 
plete capsize ; and so straightened were we for the 
fresh solids, that it was rather dubious whether the old 
horse (had it not been too tough a morceau) would not 
have been cut into junks, clapped into the pickling- tub, 
and thus shared a like fate to the admiral's milch cow. 

The captive horse-sailor, in perfect good humour, 
and his steed, were conveyed into our little fort, and 



l'isle dauphin. 



303 



the unresisting horse was tied to a tree. Its rider, 
after brushing the dust off, and being seated at our 
rough board, was reminded by his land-captor that 
some few years before, when he of the red cloth first 
went on board of a man-of-war, like a maritime sol- 
dier, being ill at ease from the tossing and bounding 
motion of the sea rocking-horse, which put his sto- 
mach in bad order, and while heaving up its contents, 
the middies dangled before his eyes fat pork, and 
threatened to swab him by day, while at the midnight 
hour they opened the middle seams of his close-fitting 
hammock, out of which he fell on the deck in his 
blanket, whence, extricating himself from its folds, he 
crawled he knew not whither, his only covering con- 
sisting of his short linen garment, and in this way 
scrambling about, he at last cast anchor on the damp 
cable-tier, until relieved by an old quarter-master with 
a lantern and candle. 

But our petty warfare was now about to finish, to 
give place to the comic muse ; and before I close this 
subject, I can only say that I did not know a single 
instance of any angry feeling or an ill word having 
passed between the champions of either side, although 
some sorely battered heads were the result of these 
vigorous encounters, out of which sprung the foregoing 
despatches, the spontaneous effusions of unsophisticated 
subalterns. 



304 



l'isle dauphin. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



LISLE DAUPHIN CONTINUED. 



Lieutenant Wyms, of the royal navy, and an officer 
of our corps, planned and marked out a piece of ground 
for the intended erection of a pastoral theatre, at the 
back of our encampment, where four erect pine-trees 
grew, which were by nature placed in such a convenient 
manner, that by the decapitation of other trees of 
irregular growth, and clearing away the underwood, the 
above four trees were so exactly opposite one another at 
a given distance (both as to the wished-for breadth and 
length of the intended erection), that they formed the 
angles and the four corners of the gable ends of the 
contemplated transatlantic place of amusement. Holes 
were then dug a few feet apart, between the open spaces 
of these four trees, into which the stems of other pine- 
trees, lopped of their tufted branches, were deeply 
sunken, and made to stand erect without support by 
re-filling the holes, and then with hand-piles pounding 
down the earth into a hard substance. 

The main frame-work being thus established upon a suf- 
ficient and solid basis for the purpose for which it was in- 
tended, the entanglement of the wicker-work was begun, 



l'isle dauphin. 



305 



and the boughs and branches of trees were interwoven 
and twisted together with indefatigable labour and ex- 
actitude, well worthy of the old trade of basket-making. 
This wicker-work was raised to the height of thirty 
feet, and formed the sides, the back, and the front of 
this construction, which was about sixty feet in length, 
and thirty in breadth ; the top being covered over with 
the canvass or the main-sails from the men~of-w T ar, which 
also supplied ship-carpenters and sawyers for the pur- 
pose of cutting planks for the stage, to form the 
orchestra and the seats for the accommodation of the 
audience. 

The canvass for the scenery and the oil-colours were 
also supplied from the fleet, and several officers assisted 
in throwing in the lights and shades of the scenery for 
stage-effect. 

At this moment, when in want of spangled finery, 
a cargo of trans-atlantic comedinas were made captives 
by an English cruiser, while on their passage from some 
islands to the main. Of these harmless people we saw 
nothing, and indeed heard they were set at liberty ; 
but their garments were withheld, and these flimsy 
green-room dresses of transparent texture of male and 
female attire were deposited in bundles in the Isle Dau- 
phin, as a most seasonable supply for the amateurs, 
who werein exstacies at such an unlooked-for selection 
of gaudy stuffs, being, as it were, cast on the island, 
and all ready made for both sexes, or, more properly 
speaking, for the transmogrifying of males into the 
flounces and other female trappings, — our camp, as it 



306 



l'isle dauphin. 



may be supposed, being ill supplied with characters for 
the feminine parts. 

These dresses being spread out to dry, were like so 
many bunting signal-flags, and as occasion required they 
were served out to the expectant amateurs, who were 
about to figure away in the comedy of the " Honey- 
moon," and the after-piece of the " Mayor of Garret." 
In the comedy Captain West, of the royal engineers, 
was most excellent ; and when ordered to swallow all 
his own pills, he said, u Oh, one's a dose." 

Both pieces went off with most exceedingly great 
eclat, in the presence of a numerous audience of united 
naval and military spectators. 

An officer of our regiment was detached to an adja- 
cent island, and as the weather was exceedingly fine in 
March, two of us set sail in a small boat without a 
compass, but more by good fortune than management. 
The weather remained clear, and when half way across 
we observed two or three sandy-islands nearly covered 
with hundreds of white pelicans, which sailed off in 
three distinct bodies, sending out flankers on every 
side. Although we fired several bullets, we did not suc- 
ceed in killing one of them. These birds are exceed- 
ingly wild, and very hard to be approached. The fol- 
lowing evening we saw a boat decorated with flags, and 
the music playing the American national air, and on 
our return we heard that peace was proclaimed, or in 
course of adjustment. From this time provisions and 
wines of all kinds poured in from all quarters ; from the 
most frugal and parsimonious meals, and the utmost 



l/lSLE DAUPHIN. 



307 



scarcity, every luxury was had that could be pro- 
cured ; fish were caught by hundreds, and there was a 
good supply of bread, (the oysters made excellent 
sauce,) for without this staff of life the choicest viands 
cannot be enjoyed. A ship brought a cargo of the best 
ale I ever remember drinking ; but as if some torment 
was always forthcoming in these hemispheres, the mus- 
quitos began to bite most terrifically, and while shooting 
in the marshes and swamps they would pierce through 
the trousers, and by the time we got on board ship to 
return to England my eyes were nearly closed, and my 
skin in a perfect state of inflammation. How it was I 
know not, but these tormenting flies seemed particularly 
fond of probing my veins, and I did not see any one so 
plagued with them as myself; they were of a very large 
species, — indeed every thing in this part of the world 
seemed to flourish and grow to a great size — the centi- 
pedes are as large as my little finger. 

Mobile Bay was a good deal intersected with sand- 
banks, and that part of the wooded island of l'lsle 
Dauphin, opposite Mobile Bay, was also fringed with 
sand-banks, which gave it a lively appearance in com- 
parison with the wretched flat coasts along which we had 
sailed. The oysters which we obtained in such abun- 
dance were gathered on the opposite side of this flat 
island, and were usually brought for our consumption 
by fatigue parties in sacks ; there was also a sort of 
small tree that grew on the island, the leaves of which, 
when boiled, made a drink possessing a very agreeable 
flavour, and while we were in want of tea made an ex- 



308 



VOYAGE TO ENGLAND. 



cellent substitute. During the latter part of our two 
months' stay at this place a supply of flour reached us, 
and ovens were erected for baking bread. The first 
loaf made was sent as a present to our mess, weighing 
eight pounds, the top of it being stamped with the 
words " To the Bang-up Mess/' including Madden, 
Steele, Houlton, Considine, Mac Lean, sen. and myself, 
and counting a certain number of battles that each of 
us had been engaged in, amounting in the gross, or 
clubbed together, to forty-three pitched battles, besides 
skirmishes and other affairs, with a share of nine wounds 
or "hits," as they were technically called. Our united 
ages (all being very young men) amounted to a hundred 
and thirty-three years, and we measured, taking one 
with the other, thirty-five feet ten inches. 



VOYAGE TO ENGLAND. # 

On the 8th of April our regiment, with the seventh 
fusileers, set sail for England, but experiencing calms 

* Doctor Gillkrest, the surgeon of our regiment, was on board the 
Bucephalus, in America, with us, who formerly served in the West 
Indies, and had been present at the battles of Vimiera and Toulouse, 
had also served throughout the peninsular war in his professional ca- 
pacity, and the doctor having met a friend of mine at Gibraltar, lately 
from England, thought from his conversation that I was about to 
enter again into the details of Ciudad Rodrigo, and in an interesting 
letter to myself from Gibraltar, the 16th of April 1834, enters so 
feelingly on the topic in question, that I take this opportunity of 
giving some extracts of his statement, which may prove interesting to 
many readers : — 

a I am in the dark as to the shape in which the Rodrigo breach 



VOYAGE TO ENGLAND, 



309 



and baffling winds in the gulf of Mexico, we did not 
reach the mouth of the harbour of the Havannah, the 
capital of the island of Cuba, for a fortnight ; and as 
six months had passed without our seeing a town or a 
village, it was with considerable pleasure we heard that 
we were about to enter the harbour, as most of the 

affair is to be sent forth by you, as you do not tell me. C~ seemed 

to say that you were getting up a book ; Lord Fitzroy Somerset must 
have been well in front to have been so soon near his friend Colonel 
George Napier, trying to succour him in his agony ; for the latter 
could not have been wounded many minutes before I was seated with 
him on a stone, trying to ascertain the nature of his wound, and to 
recommend the most proper position for keeping the arm in ; little 
more was, I am sorry to say, in my power at such a moment ; nor 
could I give what was most wanted — a drop of water in his fainting 
state. Wounds of the bones, but especially of the joints, usually 
give a terrible shock to the system, and Colonel G. Napier was so 
sunk and distressed that I doubt much whether he ever recollected 
that I had been near him at all. Has all been said that should have 
been said about the truly-intrepid General Crawford ? Bitter he was 
to us, and troublesome too ; but from the Coa and Busaco affair down 
to Rodrigo, I had ample means';of seeing that if war be at all one of 
the natural or proper occupations of man, he was one of those fitted 
for the most chivalrous acts. Nor was he wanting in kind feelings 
neither ; for nobody was more anxious about the tender management 
of the sick of his division, as I could tell, having had for some time 
the charge of them. His private communications to me about our 
highly-valued friend Colonel M'Leod, when ill, and at a moment when 
they quarrelled, left a strong impression upon my mind ever after. 
But I find that I am getting deep into peninsular affairs, and like 
yourself, when once there, it is no easy matter to get me out of them. 
You all, I think, leave something untouched, which I could, as it 
were, work into the back ground of each picture " 



310 



VOYAGE TO ENGLAND. 



ships were denied that piece of good fortune, and were 
under the necessity of making a long passage home on 
salt provisions, or the few articles laid in at VIsle Dau- 
phin. The channel of the harbour of the city of Ha- 
vannah is very narrow ; to the left, on entering, stands 
the castle of the Moro, frowning defiance on a rock, 
and overlooking the extensive city which stands on flat 
ground at the water's edge on the opposite side of the 
harbour, (commanded by the Moro,) is encircled by 
fortifications, but of no great strength beyond the town. 
Inland the harbour widens, and was filled by hulks and 
men-of-war lying in ordinary; altogether it very much 
in shape resembles the Hamoaze river, that passes 
Devonport in England. Here it is that some of the 
finest ships in the Spanish navy have been built. As it 
was late in the evening before we let go our anchor, we 
did not land until the following morning, which broke 
with a clear sky and hot sun. 

The principal inhabitants of this place are Spaniards, 
or of Spanish extraction, adopting the dress and man- 
ners of the mother-country. The troops are Spaniards, 
but the great mass of the population consist of Creoles, 
mulattoes, and every shade and cast of colour from the 
black to the yellow, or saffron-colomeA, commonly 
called white, so that out of six or seven people prome- 
nading, each possesses a different cast of complexion, 
or claims a peculiar line of ancestry y which of course 
brings them back to crosses and counter-crosses, of all 
the wicked amours so often practised, where people of 
various colours and nations amalgamate. 



VOYAGE TO ENGLAND. 



311 



The Havannah being so famous for its cigars, we had 
the curiosity to enter a warehouse to see the process of 
making them : the ragged edge of the tobacco leaf is 
cut off with a knife, twirled in a small lump, and the 
leaf rolled round it and twisted at each end with the 
fingers, and it is surprising with w T hat celerity and 
dexterity they are made, lighted, and smoked. The 
mildest tobacco is put into small white papers, under 
the name of ladies cigars, who commonly use them. 
I have also seen actresses in Old Spain smoking 
this kind of cigars while rehearsing their parts, but 
in the mother-country they are not so commonly used 
by the senoras as in this colony. 

In the afternoon crowds of people were issuing from 
the city, in volantes or cabriolets, on mules and on foot, 
to a circus half a mile without the walls, where we 
followed, and as it w T as broad day-light when the exhi- 
bition of horsemanship commenced, we had a full op- 
portunity of examining the motley crowds of black, 
brown, yellow, copper, and lead colour, with innumerable 
large black eyes, refulgently sparkling, and shooting 
forth a wild expression of kindness towards the strangers 
of fairer complexion, clothed in lively uniforms. The 
exhibition opened according to the Spanish fashion, by a 
group of mounted caballeros, gaily caparisoned, going 
through a variety of intricate evolutions with admirable 
exactness and precision, and altogether the riding was 
of a very superior description. 

The next day we visited the theatre, which was fitted 
up in good style, and as large as our minor theatres; 



312 



VOYAGE TO ENGLAND. 



but as there was no performance while the circus was 
open, we had not an opportunity of judging of the merits 
of the performers. 

The market is exceedingly well supplied with poultry, 
pigs, yams, cocoa-nuts, and pine-apples, which are piled 
up in heaps, with various other delicious fruits and ve- 
getables. The market women are mostly black negresses, 
and certainly some of the most hideous creatures pos- 
sessing the human form I ever beheld, not excepting 
the savages. Some of these black women were enor- 
mously fat, and sat on the ground with their legs wide 
open, a loose robe only being girded round the middle ; 
they were sweating and shining to such a degree that 
they looked as if greased all over with hogs-lard, and the 
wool on the old negresses' heads was quite grey, which, 
together with their broad flat nostrils, thick lips, 
enormous mouths, and sooty visages, gave them an ap- 
pearance such as we have pictured to our imaginations 
of hobgoblins, or a species of monster to scare civilized 
generations. 

The negroes are by far the finest and most athletic 
race of blacks I ever beheld, and assume and practise 
an air of independence in imitation of the Spanish 
dons, which, in addition to their low craft and cunning, 
makes them also the most insolent set of fellows to be 
imagined: and, as a proof of this assertion, I must 
recount a trick of familiarity which might have been 
the least anticipated from a slave towards strange 
officers. Some of the fusileers and our officers were 
walking together, seven in number, when up came a 



VOYAGE TO ENGLAND. 



313 



negro, making a most gracious bow, saying, in a 
garbled mixture of Spanish and English, u Caballeros — 
I know pretty lady — seben pretty daughters — live in 
handsome house — out the walls — Senora too proud- 
see noble strangers — with coffee, music tambien a 
proposal we assented to with one accord, as he proffered 
us his safe conduct to the house ; — nay, we even fancied 
he had been sent expressly to waylay us by some party 
who had lost their hearts at the circus the night before ; 
and our only fears were that a sufficiency of vehicles 
could not be obtained to convey us to so charming a 
party, having no doubt of a speedy admission, for I 
must premise that all the doors of the houses (which 
are stained of various colours) were left wide open, 
to admit a free current of air to pass through the 
corridors to keep them cool, for the heat now was 
equal to las dias de canucarales, or the dog-days in 
England. Our suspense was of short duration, for 
the black acquitted himself to perfection and brought 
three cabriolets, stuck upon lofty wheels, which we 
entered, and our guide placed himself behind one of 
them, and off we whirled at a rattling pace. At the 
expiration of half an hour's rapid driving, up one 
street and down another, we began to inquire how 
much further we had to go. The drivers pretended 
to be bewildered, and calling to the guide he was no 
where to be found. The drivers drew up and demanded 
an exorbitant fare; and the height of the joke was 
that we found out we were on the identical spot whence 

p 



314 



VOYAGE TO ENGLAND. 



we had started, that is to say, in the middle of the 
city. Expostulations would have been useless, it being 
evident that these people were all in league ; therefore, 
with a hearty laugh, we acquiesced in the cheatery. 

The posados, or lemonade-houses, were crowded 
with Spaniards smoking cigars or quaffing the juice of 
the lime out of pint-tumblers ; and having partaken 
of this refreshing beverage, we strolled towards the 
Alameda, a promenade close to the harbour, where 
prattling groups of Senoras fantastically glided up and 
down until midnight. The pale rays of the moon 
reflected on the water such scenes as these indelibly 
fix on the memory — these tranquil hours which float 
in recollection, as having occurred at some period of 
our lives in strange hemispheres. 

At sunrise the following morning we sailed out of 
the harbour with the morning breeze ; in the evening 
the wind blows into the harbour, and in a contrary 
direction of a morning, at least so we were informed, and 
so it happenedl with us. At this early hour numbers 
of females of every shade and colour were flocking 
down the shore to bathe in publico, and in a perfect 
state of nudity : many of the negresses of en bon point 
before and behind, with their long heels, looked mighty 
ridiculous. The day before a plentiful stock of every 
sort of provisions had been purchased, but the cargo 
of fruit, as ordered, had not arrived ; and when a mile 
out at sea, a small vessel, crowding all sail, made towards 
us. We hove to ; but on its coming up, the owner 



VOYAGE TO ENGLAND. 



315 



protested, with vehement Spanish gesticulations, that 
we were not the officers who had ordered the fruit. 
His anger, however, was somewhat appeased when i 
was intimated to him that he would have to take it 
back unless all despatch was used in putting his cargo 
on board at his own price, which he consented to ; 
and an abundant store of oranges, pine-apples,* limes, 
jars of sweetmeats and preserves of the sweetest and 
the most delicious flavour, were heaped on the deck 
in such profusion as to create great difficulty in stowing 
them away. Pine-apples in clusters adorned every 
corner of the cabin, and an extensive netting just 
above the stern-windows was almost breaking down 
with the weight of oranges. 

The wind was favourable while passing the Gulf- 
stream ; but soon after we got into a tempestuous ocean, 
and were tossed about at the mercy of the mighty 
element, with dead lights in the cabin-windows, for 
some days. The convoy were separated and were 
scattered over the face of the waters, and running 
before the wind almost under bare poles, in three 
successive days, according to the reckoning we made, 
a distance of seven hundred and twenty miles ; and 
as the se&-chart lay on the table marked with pencil, 
we traced our homeward course with great satisfac- 

* The owner of the fruit- vessel charged sixpence for each of the huge 
pine-apples, which was considered an imposition, being double the 
aiarket-price. 



316 



VOYAGE TO ENGLAND. 



tion: and, as far as I can judge, the sailors in- 
variably look out for port with little less glee than 
a landsman. 

Our accommodation on board the frigate was of the 
most superior order : the spacious ward-room was given 
up for the sole occupation of ten officers, the few naval 
officers taking up their berths in the gun-room, and the 
captain resided in a cabin constructed on the main 
deck. 

The provisions were in abundance : ducks, turkeys, 
or fresh meat daily stood on the table, the wine went 
round without limitation, and the choicest fruits formed 
our dessert. Hot rolls were served up for breakfast 
every morning ; and I can aver, from the time we left 
the Havannah, that I had hardly craunched biscuit. 
Many amateurs like biscuit ; but we had seen such 
myriads of it, that a crust of bread was always 
preferred. During the voyage two immense turtles 
were caught, one weighing one hundred and sixty 
pounds ; a fine large grey pelican, which had been 
disabled by shot at L'Isle Dauphin, only lived half 
the passage on lairs of fat pork, and at length died, 
as fish could not be procured for its support. In this 
way, with foul or fair weather, we stood off the Land's 
End, Old England in view, with countless white sails 
decorating the surface of the water. What a sight 
for the mariner ! What an association of ideas does 
it not call forth ! A small vessel hove to and sent 
newspapers on board. Was it credible? Did our 



VOYAGE TO ENGLAND. 



317 



eyes deceive us, or was every thing turned topsy-turvy ! 
for behold, long columns of type recounted Napoleon's 
invasion of France from the Isle of Elba, in four vessels 
carrying eight hundred infantry and one hundred 
Polish dragoons, to recover the imperial diadem, in 
the face of all Europe, while her plenipotentiaries 
were assembled at Vienna. 

What a march ! Who will attempt to describe a 
march ? Snails craw T l ; here was a power enlarging 
in magnitude, still increasing, and threatening to crush 
and grind to powder all who attempted to oppose 
its irresistible progress. Every effort succumbed or 
was swept away in the vortex, and the delirium which 
pervaded all classes sufficed, by a bloodless conquest, 
and without a blow. The reins of government were 
once more placed in the hands of Napoleon, and the 
legitimate King of France was exiled from his do- 
minions. 

War, interminable war ! Europe flew to arms. The 
alarm spread like wildfire; nay, farther, even the 
Calmuc Tartars were put into request. The British 
Channel presented a busy scene ; and the naval and 
military establishments of England, her men-of-war 
on land and afloat, were put into requisition, at a 
ruinous cost, to stem the torrent once more about to 
overflow and devastate Europe's fair fields. 

In this state of affairs the Bucephalus frigate, armed 
en flute from her transatlantic voyage, let go her 
anchor at Spithead on the 1st of June ; the trans- 



318 



VOYAGE TO ENGLAND* 



ports, being less fortunate, were still struggling against 
the blasts amid the floating icebergs on the banks of 
Newfoundland. 

Two days of respite were allowed at Portsmouth, 
which we quitted without a pang. The breeze w 7 as 
favourable, the day lovely, the sky clear, our stomachs 
in good order to partake of fresh vegetables and pro- 
visions, happy mariners, gliding on the tranquil waters 
within hail of Brighton's cliffs and shingled shores, 
and our band of music playing Spanish boleros. 

When I was a boy, Brighton was a little town ; 
and I can never obliterate from my memory the 
transports of delight, and the joy felt by my youthful 
mind, while crossing its sun-burnt downs covered with 
large bodies of troops, and at the firing of their cannon 
at a grand review • my first glimpse of the gilded 
dolphin on the towers of the old church ; the polished 
tiles and bricks of the houses shining in the noon-day 
sun ; the brown sod of the open Steine covered with 
fishermen's nets ■ a bluff bystander exclaiming, looking 
towards the nets, " Yonder be cop-tin, with the silver 
ring on — he's got two fishing-boats and a punt." 
But a truce to the days of boyhood ; I had now 
reached man's estate, and must not forget that I was 
on board His Majesty's Bucephalus, sweeping along 
coastwise. 

The gentle zephyrs continued, and the vessel rippling 
through the tiny waves, we skimmed our course past the 
chalky ciffs of Dover, landed at Deal, whence we marched 



VOYAGE TO ENGLAND. 



319 



back to Dover and took possession of its venerable 
castle, where we found a strong draft of soldiers from 
the second battalion awaiting our arrival. In a few 
days the remainder of the regiment had disembarked 
from the transports ; on the 16th of June we were all 
put on board small craft for the purpose of joining the 
allied armies in the Netherlands, and in the evening 
we left the harbour under easy sail for Ostend amid 
the acclamations of the people. 



THE END. 




LONDON i 

MA UGH ANT, PRINTER, INGRAM-COURT, 



/ 



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